ISU’s BCAL researchers and partners receive grants to help agencies manage Idaho’s natural resources

Boise-Idaho State University researchers at the Boise Center Aerospace Laboratory have been awarded grants totaling $103,000 to assist outside agencies with resource management, according to BCAL director and geosciences research professor, Nancy Glenn.

The money is from the Idaho Army National Guard and federal Bureau of Land Management.

The largest grant—$89,000—is to help develop remote-sensing protocols for natural resource management at the Idaho Army National Guard’s Orchard Training Area south of Boise.  Glenn and her team are working with OTA ecologists to develop an area vegetation map from satellite and ground data.  The map, which could be complete as early as fall 2013, will inform on best practices with vegetation and fire management, said Glenn.  

ISU students and postdoctoral researchers are working with scientists from various agencies—including the BLM, Boise State, OTA, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Geological Survey—on conservation management at the Idaho Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area.  

The BLM has also awarded BCAL $14,000 to help land managers detect invasive plant species through remote-sensing technology. The grant is in support of BCAL’s ongoing research in fire service management at the Morley Nelson area. 

That research includes a $668,000 grant awarded to BCAL and its partners in 2011 by the Joint Fire Science Program, an interagency research and development partnership between the U.S. Department of the Interior and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Researchers are using the money to develop better tools to help land managers assess fuel volumes before a fire and manage landscapes after a blaze.

For more information, contact Nancy Glenn at 208-373-1819.