USDA USFS Southwestern Region Contract # AG-8371-C-10-0011 Delivery #
AG-8371-D-13-0056 DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY ACQUISITION, JAROSO FIRE, NEW MEXICO Project
Coordinate System: UTM Zone 13, NAD83, NAVD88, Meters Acquisition Date: 9/29/2013
Abstract: Wilson & Company collected and processed multi-spectral (red, green,
blue, near-infrared) digital aerial imagery of the Jaroso Fire that burned in the
Santa Fe National Forest in the Sangre De Cristo Mountains of central New Mexico in
the summer of 2013. The fire was started by lightning on Monday June 10th, 2013 at
approximately 01:45 PM and burned 11,149 acres located 8 miles South of Truchas, New
Mexico. Aerial imagery was collected with a frame - based Z/I Digital Mapping Camera
at an average of elevation of 2800 meters above average ground; generating an
average ground sample distance (gsd) of 0.3 meters. The imagery will support the
Forest Service Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) program that addresses
landscape damage due to the fire, with the goal of protecting life, property, water
quality, and deteriorated ecosystems from further damage. While many wildfires cause
little damage to the land and pose few threats to fish, wildlife and people
downstream, the fires of 2013 have in this case created situations that require
special efforts to prevent further problems after the fire. Loss of vegetation
exposes soil to erosion, runoff may increase and cause flooding, sediments may move
downstream and damage houses or fill reservoirs and put endangered species and
community water supplies at risk. The imagery will support the Forest Service Burned
Area Emergency Response (BAER) program that addresses these situations with the goal
of protecting life, property, water quality, and deteriorated ecosystems from
further damage after the fire is out. In addition, other federal, tribal, state, and
local governments will be participating in similar program along with Universities
in the region.