78642 Data Set Published / External 47021 NERRS Project Completed 2024-12 Unknown Unknown This project promoted access to drones for a wider community of users by transferring a protocol for drone-based wetland monitoring and evaluating its efficacy in assessing and monitoring emergent vegetation. The Project Visualizing changes in emergent vegetation due to storm events, climate change, and other anthropogenic stressors is integral to assessing the health of wetland ecosystems. Ground-based monitoring - a commonly used method to assess habitat health - can be labor intensive and damaging to vegetation in sensitive habitats, and can miss key differences in small-scale heterogeneous habitats. Satellite imagery offers solutions to the challenges of labor and potential damage to sensitive habitats but is expensive and sacrifices the high-resolution details needed for small-scale analysis. Uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), also known as drones, offer a lower cost, less invasive alternative to traditional ground-based monitoring for emergent vegetation that also provides higher resolution images than satellite-based imagery. "Drone the SWMP", a 2020 NERRS Science Collaborative catalyst project, used UAS to monitor wetlands in six reserves, then assessed and developed a standardized protocol that includes equipment operation, image processing, and image analysis. This project built on the work of Drone the SWMP by transferring their protocol for monitoring coastal wetlands and evaluating its efficacy in assessing and monitoring emergent vegetation across more reserves representing a wider range of biogeographic regions. Project activities included: beginning the development of a community of practice centered around drone use in the NERRS; qualitative assessment of the existing drone monitoring protocol; and production of a whitepaper to share the information gathered over the course of the project with the wider NERRS community. The Impact Project activities increased overall drone monitoring capacity within the NERRS by supporting the development of a community of practice as well as UAS pilot certification of staff members at five more reserves. The summary reports produced through this project are available to all reserve staff and help position them to explore next steps for strengthening the community of practice and sharing information and expertise among the broader NERRS community. Expanding the number of reserve staff familiar with UAS technology and monitoring methods helped lower barriers to UAS-based monitoring and has moved reserve staff further toward addressing remaining knowledge gaps in the NERRS. Project Lead: Jared Franklin, Rookery Bay NERR, Jared.Franklin@floridadep.gov Collaborative Lead: Megan Lamb, Apalachicola NERR Partners: Drone Working Group Theme SWMP Theme habitat mapping Theme monitoring Theme remote sensing Spatial Apalachicola, FL NERR Spatial Chesapeake Bay, VA NERR Spatial Great Bay, NH NERR Spatial Rookery Bay, FL NERR Spatial South Slough, OR NERR Spatial Wells, ME NERR Data Set As Needed The distributor does not assume liability. 78643 Published / External Other N/A Data Steward 2015 Organization Office for Coastal Management OCM https://ror.org/05v14bq57 2234 South Hobson Avenue Charleston SC 29405-2413 https://www.coast.noaa.gov/ Distributor 2015 Organization Office for Coastal Management OCM https://ror.org/05v14bq57 2234 South Hobson Avenue Charleston SC 29405-2413 https://www.coast.noaa.gov/ Metadata Contact 2017-10-31 Person Cothran, Jeremy jeremy.cothran@gmail.com Originator 2016-11 2019 Person Ralston, David dralston@whoi.edu Ground Condition -85.24 -84.68 30.22 29.58 Apalachicola Bay, FL NERR -76.91 -76.35 37.6 37.2 Chesapeake Bay, VA NERR -70.97 -70.82 43.18 42.975 Great Bay, NH NERR -81.78 -81.455 26.1 25.8 Rookery Bay, FL NERR -124.344 -124.26 43.315 43.263 South Slough, OR NERR -70.6 -70.535 43.35 43.26 Wells, ME NERR Range 2024-01 2024-12 Unclassified None Cite this dataset when used as a source: NOAA retains the right to analyze, synthesize and publish summaries of the NERRS/NSC data. The NERRS/NSC retains the right to be fully credited for having collected and process the data. Following academic courtesy standards, the NERR site where the data were collected should be contacted and fully acknowledged in any subsequent publications in which any part of the data are used. The data enclosed within this package/transmission are only as accurate as the quality assurance and quality control procedures that are described in the associated metadata reporting statement allow. The user bears all responsibility for its subsequent use/misuse in any further analyses or comparisons. The Federal government does not assume liability to the Recipient or third persons, nor will the Federal government reimburse or indemnify the Recipient for its liability due to any losses resulting in any way from the use of this data. Requested citation format: NOAA National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS) Science Collaborative(NSC). https://nerrssciencecollaborative.org/project/Franklin23 2015 Organization Office for Coastal Management https://ror.org/05v14bq57 Franklin23 Multiple formats https://nerrssciencecollaborative.org/project/Franklin23 Franklin23 Online Resource N/A This information is detailed within the project links. This information is detailed within the project links. N/A 1 N/A Organization Office for Coastal Management OCM https://ror.org/05v14bq57 2234 South Hobson Avenue Charleston SC 29405-2413 https://www.coast.noaa.gov/ 78643 Entity gov.noaa.nmfs.inport:78642 Jeremy Cothran 2025-11-21T17:15:57 SysAdmin InPortAdmin 2026-03-04T19:17:17 2025-11-21 Office for Coastal Management OCM 1002 Public No No 2019-11-08 3 Years 2022-11-08