Environmental Remote Sensing Applications Laboratory Records, 1970-1988

The Environmental Remote Sensing Applications Laboratory Records consist primarily of Research Projects Case Files. These files include correspondence, reports, excerpts from staff meeting minutes, research notes, and photographs. The case files document projects with a variety of organizations and agencies, primarily in Oregon, pertaining to land use planning, watersheds and wetlands, field burning, forests, and wildlife habitat.

The Records also include a report of the first year of activities for the Laboratory (1972-1973), several issues of the ERSAL Newsletter for 1973-1974, and Oregon Landsat Mosaics for 1978-1980. The mosaics depict land cover and some land use, including forest harvest patters, agricultural developments, reservoirs, and fire scars.

An addition to the Environmental Remote Sensing Applications Laboratory Records (Accession 2014:006) documents various research projects conducted with remote sensing technologies such as the Landsat digital imaging program. In addition to reports and photographs reflecting studies by ERSAL staff, this transfer is also made up of article reprints, brochures, a grant proposal, handbooks, newsletters, notes, a poster, and research data. The research is mostly focused upon the inventory of vegetation cover throughout Oregon for ecological assessment analysis. Used extensively for land use planning, these studies examine a number of elements in the landscape, including: elk habitat, old growth forests, wetlands, forest fire rehabilitation, and the presence of tansy ragwort. Information about the computer software programs developed to analyze the Landsat data can also be found in this transfer. Numbering about 2684 photographs in total (2232 slides, 150 prints, and 302 negatives), the images depict study sites from the ground level and satellite Landsat views. There are also slide presentations on research through remote sensing technologies and images of ERSAL staff using equipment. The poster is a map of Oregon comprised of Landsat images patched together into a single image. This poster was printed for sale to the public.