New aerial orthophotos planned for Wyoming

NRCS is a key partner in acquiring a new set of aerial photos for Wyoming. The flight is scheduled to begin July 1, 2009, with an estimated completion date of August 15, 2009.

Two products will be delivered as part of this project. The first is a set of digital, true-color county photos that will be provided to all field offices this upcoming winter. The partners on this $1.5 million project are Farm Service Agency (FSA), U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and NRCS.

The second product from this flight will be a “buy-up” to a statewide set of color infra-red (CIR) digital photos in a quarter-quad format. Partners in the $150,000 CIR “buy-up” are NRCS, Bureau of Land Management (BLM), U.S. Forest Service (USFS), the State Engineer’s Office (SEO) and Fremont County Weed and Pest. The CIR photos will be available by the summer of 2010.

The digital aerial photos are used by NRCS planners, soil scientists and other employees. Because we strive to provide current photography, these photos offer up-to-date and accurate land-use and land cover information. Using remote-sensing software, the color infra-red photos can give our soil scientists and geographic information system specialists additional information about the health, vigor, distribution and type of vegetation as well as soil moisture assessments.

Other uses for this imagery include university programs and research, forestry, range management, energy, wildlife management, water management and engineering purposes.

External customers can download this imagery for free at the USDA Geodata Gateway (http://datagateway.nrcs.usda.gov/) beginning January 2010.

For further information, contact Randy Wiggins, State GIS Coordinator at 307-233-6778 or randy.wiggins@wy.usda.gov.