Wildfire Burn Severity Mapping
SGRC Lead Researcher: Dr. Robert Magai
Collaborators: Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection and Kutenai Nature Investigations Ltd
The burn severity mapping project was initiated by the Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection to study the degree of environmental changes caused by the Kutetl and Kuskanook fires of 2003. This project was established to provide a basis for:
- Understanding the range of impacts resulting from the fire on ecological communities (vegetation and wildlife)
- Predicting potential medium and long term changes to vegetation
- Studying short term and long term impacts of the fire on biodiversity within the fire devastated area
- Identifying areas that may benefit from restoration activities
Fire severity mapping was based on the methodology developed by the USGS for fire severity mapping in US National Parks, which uses the difference normalized burn ratio to detect changes in satellite imagery of pre- and post-fire burn scenarios.
