Skytec Innovates to Meet the Monitoring Needs of Land Trusts

According to the Land Trust Alliance, land trusts are increasingly turning to technologies to bolster their stewardship. Remote monitoring, for example, is a highly beneficial and streamlined way to provide new perspectives on a land trust’s work. As responsible trusts, these nonprofit organizations are tasked with upholding certain standards and best practices to receive Land Trust Alliance membership and accreditation through the Land Trust Accreditation Commission.

Andy Carroll, CTO of Skytec, who brings decades of professional conservation and natural resource GIS experience to the team, is excited to see the company’s technological advances benefit conservation organizations such as land trusts.
 

“Skytec is eager to support the work these crucial organizations are doing to monitor and protect our natural resources,” Carroll says.

Skytec recently partnered with Hudson Highlands Land Trust in New York and Palmer Land Conservancy in Colorado to provide frequent remote monitoring services.

• Hudson Highlands Land Trust seeks to protect and preserve the natural resources, rural character, and scenic beauty of the Hudson Highlands in New York State. With this land trust, Skytec monitors 3,550 acres in New York and collaborates to pilot the assessment of small-scale automated change detection to help identify challenges to conserved land more quickly.
• Palmer Land Conservancy seeks to ensure southern Colorado’s natural beauty, locally grown food, and outdoor recreation can be enjoyed now and for generations. With Palmer Land Conservancy, Skytec will compare their remote monitoring findings with other technologies the organization has used previously to monitor 70,000 acres in the Arkansas and South Platte watershed basin.

Both of these initiatives were funded in part by the Land Trust Alliance’s Remote Monitoring Grant Program that seeks to help land trusts build capacity for efficient, effective stewardship and make technologies more accessible for these unique organizations.

An Opportunity to Adapt

Skytec leaders recognized the perfect convergence of technology and need during the COVID-19 pandemic. As the pandemic limited in-person engagements, land trusts had a pressing need for remote, streamlined property monitoring. Similarly, Skytec leaders recognized the company’s ability to provide not just the highest quality imaging but also in-depth, customizable data analyses to clients.

Through its gold-level partnership with Planet, Skytec provides up-to-date, high-resolution remote satellite imagery. This powerful imaging tool, paired with high-level data science, enables Skytec to evaluate assets and detect change with automated processes. Now available as an ongoing, customizable service, Skytec aids agencies in identifying challenges and changes to any area of land.

Paired with Skytec’s data science and customized applications, the Skytec team can interpret imagery to evaluate the loss of timber or vegetation, any land disturbances, and even pests affecting vegetation. Imagery can also be used for conservation easement stewardship to ensure compliance with easement requirements. These data sets empower leaders to best manage assets and guide any decision-making processes.

“These capabilities position us to help nonprofit organizations like land trusts be better stewards of the land they manage,” Carroll says. “Our services enhance the capabilities of staff, providing remote monitoring to detect changes or disturbances. Managing remote sensing data and imagery can be overwhelming. We pair our in-depth GIS experience as an ESRI partner with Planet satellite imagery, combine high resolution products from unmanned aerial systems mapping and monitoring when needed, and deliver data to clients in a meaningful, usable format.”

Read more about our data acquisition services or contact us to learn more.

This article originally appeared at skytecllc.com.