For river authorities and land management organizations, maintaining vegetation along waterways is critical for flood mitigation and ecosystem health. Identifying and prioritizing areas for management has traditionally been time-consuming and challenging, but remote monitoring offers a comprehensive approach to streamline this process and ensure regulatory compliance while protecting vital riparian corridors.
With advanced analysis tools and high-resolution commercial satellite imagery, Lens makes it possible to monitor and manage riparian vegetation at unprecedented scale and efficiency.
In this example, we cover how to:
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With Lens, riparian management teams can access free public imagery, as well as leading commercial high-resolution satellite imagery purchased on a per-acre basis. In this example, we look at an area just south of San Antonio, Texas, to demonstrate how managers can efficiently view current property conditions and see changes over time.
Using true color, high-resolution imagery in Lens, significant vegetation removal becomes clearly visible along the riverbank, and we can easily see changes on the landscape throughout recent seasons. In this case, the removal was conducted to comply with Army Corps of Engineer regulations requiring vegetation management for flood mitigation—ensuring water can move efficiently through the system during flash flood events.
In addition to visually spotting changes in riparian vegetation, this high-resolution imagery is useful for a variety of watershed management use cases, including:
Beyond visual comparison, Lens provides powerful analysis tools to understand vegetation growth patterns across multiple years. By selecting specific areas of riverbank for analysis, managers can examine vegetation trends spanning over a decade.
Data from 2016 onwards reveals a steady upward curve in vegetation density, with increasingly dense woody vegetation accumulating along the riverbank until recent management efforts by the San Antonio River Authority. The timeline shows a dramatic decline in vegetation values following spring removal activities, with significantly lower photosynthesis readings after treatment.
Lens empowers managers to move beyond individual site monitoring to comprehensive corridor-wide analysis. By selecting entire riparian corridors for evaluation, teams can identify specific areas requiring the highest priority for vegetation management.
Using Lens pixel analysis tools, managers can isolate areas with the highest NDVI (vegetation activity) values within the riparian corridor. This targeted approach reveals exactly which spaces require prioritization for vegetation management activities. Staff can quickly export polygons of these targeted areas–saving hours of time in GIS.
The analysis not only identifies high-priority areas but also quantifies the scope of management needs. In this particular example, approximately 37 acres met the criteria for vegetation management intervention—a number that has significantly decreased following targeted treatment efforts in the area.
For managers coordinating flood mitigation efforts, regulatory compliance programs, or ecosystem restoration initiatives, remote monitoring capabilities transform individual site assessments into corridor-wide management strategies. Teams can export geometries as shapefiles for field use, ensuring seamless integration between remote analysis and ground operations. This approach streamlines the entire management process from identification through implementation.
When it comes to maintaining healthy riparian corridors, ensuring flood safety, and meeting regulatory requirements, Lens brings together the imagery, analysis tools, and quantifiable insights to support critical vegetation management decisions at any scale.
Get started in Lens today, or contact our team to learn about which plan is right for your team.
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