Researching and developing a remote sensing approach to detecting stand-level spruce bark beetle attach in central British Columbia

云杉树皮甲虫(Dendroctonus Rufipennis)是北美西部森林中的一种破坏性害虫。这种甲虫以树皮内侧为食，破坏树的韧皮部，并将蓝色斑点真菌带入边材，从而杀死大型云杉树。在不列颠哥伦比亚省北部，云杉甲虫的数量正在迅速增加，目前该地区的木材面积为15.6万公顷。陆地信息服务机构和新喀里多尼亚学院正在合作一个项目，研究和开发一种基于计算机的方法，分析高分辨率的森林航空图像，并预测整个地区树皮甲虫的袭击。这种方法将为林业部门带来几项重要的创新：(I)通过使用无人驾驶飞行器(UAV)采集图像并使用这种新方法对采集后的图像进行分析，可以降低树皮甲虫调查成本；(Ii)可以预测整个地区的树皮甲虫侵袭率，这将改善森林管理和树皮甲虫隔离作业(Iii)与传统的小规模高清晰度固定翼航空摄影相比，无人机方法具有许多优势，例如近实时和任意规模的交付。学院自然资源与环境技术专业的学生将参与这个项目，并将在新兴技术方面发展宝贵的技能，以管理不列颠哥伦比亚省森林的森林健康因素。

The spruce bark beetle (Dendroctonus rufipennis) is a destructive pest in the forests of western North America.The beetle kills large spruce trees by feeding on the inner bark, disrupting the phloem of the tree, and vectoringa blue stain fungus into the sapwood. Spruce beetle populations are rapidly increasing in northern BritishColumbia, and currently infest 156,000 hectares of timber in this region.Terrestrial Information Services and the College of New Caledonia are collaborating on a project to researchand develop a computer-based method that analyzes high-resolution aerial images of forests and predictstree-level bark beetle attack for the entire area. This approach will introduce several important innovations tothe forest sector: (i) bark beetle survey costs could be reduced by collecting images using unmanned aerialvehicles (UAV) and analyzing the images post-collection with this new approach, and (ii) bark beetleinfestation rates would be predicted for entire areas, which will improve forest management and bark beetlesanitation operations (iii) the UAV approach offers numerous advantages over traditional small-scale highdefinition fixed wing aerial photography such as delivery in near real time and at any scale.Students in the College's Natural Resources and Environmental Technology program will be involved in thisproject, and will develop valuable skills in emerging technologies to manage forest health factors in BC'sforests.