Report Nr. 3174 Deeryard Mapping With Landsat Thematic Mapper

Deeryards provide thermal protection for deer during severe winter weather. Suitable winter cover is important in determining the carrying capacity of an area for white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in northern Michigan. The Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) records spectral signatures in seven wavelength bands. Most of these bands were designed to provide information on vegetation. Many studies have reported upon the utility of satellite data for vegetation mapping. Researchers have been able to discriminate between different tree species using satellite imagery. However, the ability to distinguish canopy closure of conifer species has not been adequately demonstrated in previous studies. The purpose of this study was to determine if TM data could be used to identify and map conifer habitats that provide winter yarding for deer. This includes both species composition and canopy closure. During the course of research, it was discovered that there was good separation of lowland conifer stands dominated by a single species. The producers accuracy (the percentage of ground reference points for a category that were classified correctly) was 75% or above for black spruce, Cedar 70+, and hemlock. Only Cedar 40-70 (67%) was lower than 75% correctly classified. Non-conifer categories such as northern hardwoods and aspen/birch were correctly classified 79% and 90% of the time, respectively.