Satellite Imagery Analysis of Vegetation Health

CLIENT: A Major Exploration & Production Company

AJM Environmental Inc. was retained by a major exploration & production company to assess whether satellite-derived image analysis could be used to enable the early detection of tree stress caused by infrastructure within two of their steam-assisted gravity drainage projects. The critical deliverable for this project was a report that detailed:

An analysis of the benefits and limitations of different analysis frameworks (indices and classification analyses);
An assessment of the benefits and limitations of different sources of imagery;
An assessment of the predictive accuracy of different image analysis techniques; and
Recommendation for ongoing analysis.

AJM tested a wide range of image analysis techniques for their ability to effectively detect stressed or dead trees, including a vegetation index (normalized difference vegetation index), an unsupervised classification (k-means clustering), and supervised classification techniques (maximum likelihood, random forests, gradient boosting). These analysis techniques were applied to two sources of satellite imagery – Pleiades and Sentinel-2. The Pleiades data represented high-spatial-resolution data with a high cost, while the Sentinel-2 data were of a lower resolution but freely available. These analyses were conducted using QGIS and R (packages “terra”, “raster”, “randomForest”, “xgboost”, and “gbm”) to maximize transparency and repeatability.

The predictions made by these techniques were assessed against test data based on known areas of tree stress and mortality both quantitatively and qualitatively. Quantitative assessment was conducted using test data, and communicated through error rates (sensitivity, specificity, and precision) and confusion matrices. The best-performing imagery and techniques were identified, and the outputs of these techniques were quantified through a range of charts and maps. Through this experimentation, AJM was able to recommend a future analysis program that detailed data requirements (both satellite imagery and other predictive spatial data such as wetland extents), recommendations on how to improve model accuracy (e.g., methods to improve training data collection), and methods for quantifying vegetation health trends into the future.

Other Projects

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Bleriot Ferry Rehabilitation Project

Jamac Painting & Sandblasting Ltd. (Jamac) retained AJM to provide environmental consulting for the Bleriot Ferry Rehabilitation Project near Munson, AB in 2023. Critical deliverables were to include:

• Environmental Construction Operations (ECO) Plan;

• Bird Management Plan (BMP), including a Wildlife Survey and Sweep of the area; and

• Weed Survey and Weed Infestation map.

AJM crafted an ECO plan compliant with current laws, regulations, permits, and the ECO Plan Framework. It covered all environmental aspects identified by the Environmental Risk Assessment, including Clubroot and Whirling Disease control methods, a Temporary Erosion and Sediment Control Plan, and a Bird Management Plan (BMP). The plan, once reviewed and revised in response to the Project administrator's feedback, included a Clubroot Management Plan adhering to Alberta Agriculture standards and a Whirling Disease protocol based on AEP guidelines.

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Pipeline Construction Monitoring - Foothills West Path Delivery (Turner Valley, Longview & Lundreck)

AJM was contracted by TC Energy in 2023 to provide environmental monitoring support for the construction of the Turner Valley, Longview, and Lundbreck sections of the Foothills West Path Delivery natural gas pipeline system in southwestern Alberta.

The scope of work provided by AJM included:

Early season raptor surveys to follow Restricted Activity Period (RAP) timing;
Pre-construction migratory bird nest sweeps;
Amphibian mitigation guidance and salvages;
Mountain Goat and Bighorn Sheep surveys and mitigation on Lundbreck; and
Assisting Environmental Inspectors with implementation of Environmental Protection Plans.

AJM assisted TC Energy in complying with the Migratory Birds Convention Act, the Alberta Wildlife Act, and Species at Risk Act. AJM implemented mitigations for many migratory bird species including two species listed under the Species at Risk Act (SARA); the olive-sided flycatcher (Contopus cooperi) and bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus). AJM provided environmental support to support pipeline development while providing appropriate mitigations to meet regulatory requirements. Additionally, AJM aided TC Energy of implementation of the Environmental Protection Plan developed for this pipeline project. This project was a Canada Energy Regulator (CER) regulated project.