Surveying mountain pine beetle damage of forests: A review of remote sensing opportunities

The severity and large spatial extent of the current mountain pine beetle outbreak in western North America has prompted research into methods for surveying the location and extent of beetle impacts using remotely sensed data. New forms of remotely sensed data and methods of image analysis have emerged in recent years, which have the potential to provide information on mountain pine beetle red-attack damage that complements information gathered from existing survey methods. The main objective of this review is to summarize previous and current contributions of remote sensing to the survey of mountain pine beetle impacts. The potential and limits of remotely sensed data for the detection and mapping of mountain pine beetle impacts, over a range of attack stages, are identified and synthesized. The secondary objective of this review is to highlight those methods or data sources that currently have operational potential and that the authors believe warrant further research in support of ongoing planning and management activities. Emphasis is placed on the different information needs associated with the various spatial scales of forest management: regional, landscape, and local. The findings of this review indicate that remotely sensed data is useful for mapping red-attack damage across a range of image data types and scales of inquiry. The review concludes with recommendations for future research, and suggestions for operational standards to guide the use of remotely sensed data for the survey of mountain pine beetle impacts.