Idaho LiDAR Consortium (ILC): Lolo Creek and Slate Creek

Lidar instrument was flown with a Leica ALS50 Lidar system over the period of September 29 - October 3, 2006. This project is the data acquisition phase of a administrative study being done in collaboration with the Nez Perce National Forest, Grangeville, ID; Forest Service Region 1 Regional Office, Missoula, MT (Forest Inventory and Analysis and Remote Sensing/ Geospatial Team); and Rocky Mountain Research Station - Forest Sciences Lab, Moscow, ID. The primary goal of the study is to provide operational implementation of Lidar technology in support of project level planning. The proposed applications of Lidar in support of planning are: vegetation structural modeling, erosion modeling, fuels, transportation planning, timber system planning, wildlife habitat modeling, and stream quality. The Rocky Mountain Research Station will provide the development of peer-reviewed forest structural metrics and technical support in implementation of Lidar technology. The technical specifications have been defined to specifically support vegetation modeling using Lidar data. The project area consists of two contiguous blocks totaling 42,889 hectares in north central Idaho. The project area consists of moderately variable topographic configurations with diverse vegetation components. Vegetation is variable, transitioning from low elevation shrubland and mixed conifers to upper elevation spruce-fir. Ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) and Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) are the predominant species at lower to mid elevations occupying a fairly xeric setting transitioning to grand fir (Abies grandis) and western red cedar (Thuja plicata) at mid elevations and subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa) at the higher elevations.