Evaluating Insect Damage to Forest Resources in New Mexico

Learning Unit Description:

The Integrated Geospatial Education and Technology Training Project (iGETT) presents a series of Learning Units (LU) designed to incorporate federal land remote sensing data into Geographic Information System (GIS) instruction. The Evaluating Insect Damage to Forest Resources in New Mexico LU, created by Amy Ballard of Central New Mexico Community College, uses remote sensing and GIS software to analyze the extent and severity of tree die-off in Sandia Mountain Wilderness in the Cibola National Forest of New Mexico, where a major insect infestation has left large concentrations of dead trees. 

The iGETT Learning Units amount to about two weeks of instruction and are designed for use both as “skills-based case studies and building blocks for new courses.” All LUs are intended for students with a basic understanding of GIS. Each LU includes three core documents, an instructor’s guide, a student guide, and a curriculum support document, as well as the remote sensing data needed to complete the unit. This course is centered around a set of four student exercises that should take roughly four weeks to complete and are intended for use mid-semester in a community college level remote sensing course. Students must have basic knowledge of GIS software and ENVI to complete the exercises. 

Upon completion of the lesson, students should have a basic ability to locate and utilize appropriate data, apply unsupervised and supervised techniques to the data, and present research results. 

For orientation purposes, viewers should begin with Ballard_Thumbnail.pdf, which offers a description of the LU as well as an overview of topics covered, required software, and the intended audience.

Lesson Contents:

The attached files associated with this LU exist in a variety of formats and a variety of geospatial data file types.

Below is a list of the files contained within the .zip attachment. The size of each file is included in parenthesis.

LU_Ballard.zip

• Documents
  • Lesson Overview (Ballard_Thumbnail.pdf 192KB)
  • Instructor Guide (Ballard_IG.pdf 298KB)
  • Curriculum Support Document (Sandias_Ballard_AJ_CS_jun_2008.pdf 43KB)
  • Student Handout, Part 1 (Ballard_SH_Pt1.pdf 3.8MB)
  • Student Handout, Part 2 (Ballard_SH_Pt.2.pdf 3.2MB)
  • Student Handout, Part 3 (Ballard_SH_Pt3.pdf 339KB)
  • Student Handout, Part 4 (Ballard_SH_Pt4.pdf 653KB)
• Data 
  • Sandias_Ballard_Data (Sandias_Ballard_Data.rar)
    • SHP
      • ​​GPS_data (14 data files, 46KB)
      • (d_pass.dbf 3.3MB)
      • (d_pass.prj 169 bytes)
      • (d_pass.sbn 289KB)
      • (d_pass.sbx 25KB)
      • (d_pass.shp 8.5MB)
      • (d_pass.shp.xml 132KB)
      • (d_pass.shx 231KB)
      • (Oso_ROI_.dbf 73 bytes)
      • (Oso_ROI.dbf 73 bytes)
      • (Oso_ROI.prj 425 bytes)
      • (Oso_ROI.sbn 132 bytes)
      • (Oso_ROI.sbx 116 bytes)
      • (Oso_ROI.shp 540 bytes)
      • (Oso_ROI.shx 108 bytes)
      • (Pino_ROI_.dbf 73 bytes)
      • (Pino_ROI.dbf 73 bytes)
      • (Pino_ROI.prj 425 bytes)
      • (Pino_ROI.sbn 132 bytes)
      • (Pino_ROI.sbx 116 bytes)
      • (Pino_ROI.shp 524 bytes)
      • (Pino_ROI.shx 108 bytes)
      • (ROI_.dbf 73 bytes)
      • (ROI_.evf 1KB)
      • (ROI.dbf 73 bytes)
      • (ROI.prj 485 bytes)
      • (ROI.sbn 132 bytes)
      • (ROI.sbx 116 bytes)
      • (ROI.shp 764 bytes)
      • (ROI.shx 108 bytes)
      • (sand_cont.dbf 6KB)
      • (sand_cont.prj 500 bytes)
      • (sand_cont.sbn 3KB)
      • (sand_cont.sbx 332 bytes)
      • (sand_cont.shp 7.2MB)
      • (sand_cont.shx 2KB)
    • GRD
      • RASTER
        • info (13 data files, 12KB)
        • abq_spft (6 data files, 9.2MB)
      • IMAGE
        • ASTER_JUL2007_TIF_Georef (13 data files, 99.1MB)
        • 2006 (22 data files, 81.9MB)
    • PHOTO
      • ​​PinoCanyon_jpgs (22 image files, 59.9MB)