Monitoring Conserved Lands from Space Pays Dividends for Colorado Land Trusts
Study shows satellite imagery reduces costs, personnel time and carbon emissions –
and will play a role in future land stewardship
Aug. 12, 2021 – DENVER – A group of 12 land trusts in Colorado explored the use of satellite imagery for monitoring conserved lands across the state in 2020 as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In all, the land trusts monitored over 1,608,000 acres using remote monitoring technologies. Keep It Colorado and the Land Trust Alliance partnered to publish a study which shows that these technologies help land trusts reduce the costs, personnel hours and carbon emissions typically associated with observing and documenting changes to landscapes they have conserved. Several land trusts plan to add these technologies to their stewardship toolbox to be more efficient in their property monitoring activities in the future.
The study, “Remote Monitoring Technologies for Colorado Land Trusts,” describes the process land trusts undertook to explore and implement a variety of remote sensing solutions, including satellite and aerial imagery and geographic information systems; identifies important factors to consider when selecting a vendor; documents the land trusts’ user experiences; describes partnerships and collaborations; highlights the resulting efficiency and effectiveness; and outlines land trusts’ plans for these technologies in future stewardship efforts.
Key highlights of the program’s outcomes include:
Seven of the 10 land trusts that provided cost data reported spending less money by using remote monitoring methods than they had when monitoring in-person the year before.
Of the six land trusts that provided monitoring effort data, five users reported reductions of 46-83% in personnel hours needed to complete monitoring.
Seven organizations avoided a total of more than 56,800 miles of travel by monitoring remotely, representing a gross reduction of 46,676 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions.
Of the 12 land trusts in the grantee cohort, 42% say that moving forward, they will likely use remote monitoring to monitor a handful of properties each year, and 33% believe that remote monitoring will play a major role in stewardship efforts.
The final report and two-page executive summary are available on Keep It Colorado’s website:
“Our land trusts have shared that remote monitoring will be a valuable tool for their ongoing stewardship efforts; one of our land trust members described it as a ‘game changer for stewardship,’” said Melissa Daruna, Keep It Colorado’s executive director. Daruna emphasized that while this technology can help land trusts be more effective and efficient, it won’t replace land trusts’ traditional in-person monitoring techniques. “The personal relationships land trusts have built with landowners are paramount. We were honored to help them explore new tools to add to their stewardship toolbox.”
Property monitoring enables land trusts to discover discrepancies on the land, such as boundary encroachment, noxious weeds, alteration of water flow, unauthorized expansion of a structure, or other activities that lessen the property’s conservation value or are not allowable under the terms of the conservation agreement. Land trusts then work with landowners to create a remediation or restoration plan.
Property monitoring is but one potential application of this technology. Land trusts cited other opportunities to use remotely sensed imagery, such as quantifying landscape-scale impacts of conservation, gathering data to share with landowners and community members, and documenting long-term effects of climate change. Collecting this information via remote technologies could help improve management decisions over time and aid in planning restoration projects, for example.
At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, many of Keep It Colorado’s coalition members expressed health and safety concerns associated with walking their properties with landowners during the monitoring season, which typically takes place between spring and fall. Because land trusts are required to annually monitor conserved properties to maintain their accreditation status, Keep It Colorado decided to explore ways to support its members with an alternative solution to in-person visits. In response, Keep It Colorado received $205,000 in grant funding from Great Outdoors Colorado and the Gates Family Foundation to launch a program that would help Colorado land trusts monitor conservation properties across the state.
Following a competitive RFP process, Keep It Colorado disbursed $155,000 in grants to nine organizations representing 12 land trusts, and used the remaining $50,000 in funds to administer the regrant program and analyze the effectiveness and efficiency of the program as a longer-term solution to property monitoring.
About the Land Trust Alliance
Founded in 1982, the Land Trust Alliance is a national land conservation organization that works to save the places people need and love by strengthening land conservation across America. The Alliance represents nearly 1,000 member land trusts supported by more than 200,000 volunteers and 4.6 million members nationwide. The Alliance is based in Washington, D.C., and operates several regional offices. More information about the Alliance is available at www.landtrustalliance.org.
About Keep It Colorado
Keep It Colorado serves as a unified voice for conservation organizations focused on private lands conservation, and does so by bringing together land trusts, public agencies and conservation champions around a vision to create a Colorado where people, lands, waters and wildlife thrive. Keep It Colorado advocates for sound public policy; provides connection and collaboration opportunities for conservation partners; offers a forum to address emerging conservation issues and opportunities; pursues sustainable funding and programmatic tools and solutions; and works to advance a culture of conservation in Colorado. Learn more at www.keepitco.org.
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