Evaluating Insect Damage to Forest Resources in New Mexico

Exercise Description:

This exercise, created by the Integrated Geospatial Education and Technology Training Project (iGETT), uses real-world examples of drought damage and environmental issues caused by insect infestation to determine whether Geographic Information System (GIS) technology can be used to discover the extent and severity of tree die-off in forest environments. The exercise is structured around four student activities, with weeks one and two focusing on an overview of the project (and the corresponding use of ArcMaps, Landsat, and other GIS technologies), and weeks three and four centered around the use and understanding of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI).

By completing the exercise, students will learn how to download remote sensing data for the geographic region by accessing appropriate websites; apply ArcGIS software and optional field-based, ground truth techniques to make qualitative and quantitative statements about the extent and nature of the tree die-off; and present their findings with appropriate maps and visuals.

The entire project takes approximately four weeks of in-class instruction to complete, and is intended to be taught mid-semester, once students have mastered basic GIS abilities (including creating shapefiles, digitizing, adding an attribute to a GIS layer, and displaying GIS layers).

Exercise Contents:

The attached files associated with this exercise exist in a variety of formats, including .doc, .pdf, and jpg files, and a variety of geospatial data file types.

Below is a list of the files contained in the .zip attachment, with the file name and size provided in parenthesis.

Student Handouts

• Student Exercise 1 (Sandias_Ballard_SH_pt1_Arc_113011_OB-4-8.doc 3MB)
• Student Exercise 2 (Sandias_Ballard_SH_pt2_Arc_113011_OB.doc 2.1 MB)
• Student Exercise 3 (Sandia_Ballard_SH_pt3_Arc_113011_OB-4-1.doc 999 KB)
• Student Exercise 4 (Sandia_Ballard_SH-pt4_Arc_113011_OB(2)-1.doc 223 KB)
• Student Exercise 1 (Sandias_Ballard_SH_pt1_Arc_113011_OB-4-8.pdf 3.3 MB)
• Student Exercise 2 (Sandias_Ballard_SH_pt2_Arc_113011_OB-1.pdf 2.3 MB)
• Student Exercise 3 (Sandia_Ballard_SH_pt2_Arc_113011_OB-4-1-2.pdf 996 KB)
• Student Exercise 4 (Sandia_Ballard_SH-pt4_Arc_113011_OB(2)-1-1.pdf 229 KB)

Data Download: TreeDieOff.zip

• GRD
  • ​Image
    • ASTER_JUL2007_TIF_Georef (13 files, 99.1 MB)
    • 2008
  • Raster
    • abq_spft (6 files, 9.2 MB)
    • ​info (13 files, 12 KB)
    • abq_spft.aux.xml (205 bytes)
    • abq.spft.ovr (528 KB)
• SHP (52 files, 19.8 MB)
• PHOTO
  • PinoCanyon_jpgs (22 images, 59.9 MB)