watching a burn scar recover with Google Earth and Onx maps

[wildcat westerner]

Hello,
In northern New Mexico there was a huge Calf Canyon fire that destroyed hundreds of thousands of acres of forests and many homes. The burn scar is tremendous. Part of the scar extends into GMU 45 which for mobility impaired hunters had the highest success ratio for Mule deer in the state.
Four wheeling up to the snowline on a Mesa today the devastation was awesome.
Since I have been told that the rebound from this tragic fire will be uneven, good in some areas and mediocre in others, I am thinking that Google Earth may be a good way to cover such a huge area. In seekiing part of the area on Google Earth this afternoon, I realize these satellite photo's are simply not current at all. I am new to Onyx maps. How current would those images be?

So, it would be totally impossible to eyeball such a huge areas as to recovery. I still see this challenge as a good opportunity for a hunter to discover rebounding areas that return to their former state, or maybe even get better in terms of game recovery. I was in Washington after the Mt. St. Helens' eruption and the mountain's recovery in terms of succulent growth after the blast was miraculous, so the Roosevelt Elk herd migrated to that mountain for all the succulent growth.

I would be pleased to come up with the best method of tracking the recovery of this present devastation in the High Desert. Thank You,

WW

 

[Ol' Red]

I have never tried using google earth to watch an area recover after a fire or volcano. I watched Mt St. Helens erupt from my roof in Tillicum, WA on May 18th,1980. We drove down to the edge of the red zone about 18 months later and saw the new growth. About three years after a large burn the recovery draws a lot of wildlife.

 

[FireFlyFishing]

Hello,
In northern New Mexico there was a huge Calf Canyon fire that destroyed hundreds of thousands of acres of forests and many homes. The burn scar is tremendous. Part of the scar extends into GMU 45 which for mobility impaired hunters had the highest success ratio for Mule deer in the state.
Four wheeling up to the snowline on a Mesa today the devastation was awesome.
Since I have been told that the rebound from this tragic fire will be uneven, good in some areas and mediocre in others, I am thinking that Google Earth may be a good way to cover such a huge area. In seekiing part of the area on Google Earth this afternoon, I realize these satellite photo's are simply not current at all. I am new to Onyx maps. How current would those images be?

So, it would be totally impossible to eyeball such a huge areas as to recovery. I still see this challenge as a good opportunity for a hunter to discover rebounding areas that return to their former state, or maybe even get better in terms of game recovery. I was in Washington after the Mt. St. Helens' eruption and the mountain's recovery in terms of succulent growth after the blast was miraculous, so the Roosevelt Elk herd migrated to that mountain for all the succulent growth.

I would be pleased to come up with the best method of tracking the recovery of this present devastation in the High Desert. Thank You,

WW

So, it depends how often the satellites doing such work make passes over areas. Google will survey urban areas far more than remote areas of NM for updated imagery/maps. It may occur every few months on the high side and maybe…every couple years in remote areas.

ONX is an app developer/GIS company. They provide a fantastic app and service. However, their data is all provided by outside companies and/or gov't agencies. So what you see on the app is only as good as the data they are able to obtain.

Catastrophic wildfire recovery occurs over several decades or even centuries depending on the ecosystem. Some of the worst damage in the Calf Canyon burn scar will not recover in your lifetime. Some will recover in a decade for the less severe portions. "Destroyed hundreds of thousands of acres" is very broad stroke of the brush and frankly, untrue.

The good news. The animals will adapt to their new home. It may change their patterns…that's up to you to figure out. Often, wildfire will benefit elk habitat by opening up overgrown timber and provide more grazing opportunities for the animals.

 

[bluedog69]

If it rains enough stuff will flourish.

 

[willfrye027]

One of the great things about burns is that you have to actually physically scout to see if/where the animals are using it. This is a real benefit to locals because every out of state hunter will be pouring over google earth and onx trying to find places that look good..

Get some eyes on the country and you may just find a new honey hole

 

[FireFlyFishing]

If it rains enough stuff will flourish.

Lots of rain can cause lots of erosion which can cause many issues as well.

 

[wildcat westerner]

With regard to true size of the blaze, since you require specifics: 341,000 acres was burnt, about 62 million trees. I noted yesterday several places where the road was washed out and required 4x4 to get through. Yes, too much rain will be terrible for these very steep mountains.

WW

 

[FireFlyFishing]

With regard to true size of the blaze, since you require specifics: 341,000 acres was burnt, about 62 million trees. I noted yesterday several places where the road was washed out and required 4x4 to get through. Yes, too much rain will be terrible for these very steep mountains.

WW

I flew the fire as an air attack. I'm well aware of the extent of the fire.

 

[WapitiBob]

OnX has recent imagery in 2 week intervals although not the highest resolution, a premium subscription feature.

 

[M77Fan]

Good question. Piqued my interest because I have been tracking some past fires where I hunt. Fires are all over, and they sure change the large-scale timber cover. You can easily see burn areas on GoogleEarth or OnX, but when you look, most burns look like mosaics of burned and unburned, and as they recover, herbaceous cover comes in among the standing dead trees.

Have noted at least in some areas, elk treat standing dead similar to live forest, and behave similar within the burn. Once on a sheep hunt I had the opportunity to observe a bunch of elk in what I referred to as the "transparent forest". They had been pushed into a 7 year old burn where I was because of an active fire on the other side of the mountain. A few years after a fire, the forage within the burn is very good as long as there is rain. It was educational, and because of the sizes of some bulls it was sometimes difficult to remember I was looking for a good ram!

One way to do what you want, that I know of, is cumbersome, and you need to know a little about using GoogleEarth tools. If you poke around in Inciweb, which tracks fires, you can find old fire maps. I went looking for the Calf Canyon fire and found progressive fire coverage maps at this url: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident-maps-gallery/nmsnf-calf-canyon

If you scroll below the GIS map shown at that url, there is a group of static map PDFs that you can download so you can see the fire margins. See the attached PDF map.

If you take that map, and create (digitally draw) a polygon on GoogleEarth that approximately encloses the fire, you can save that polygon shape and have it to look at on GoogleEarth. You can also save that polygon shape as a KMZ file and export it to your hard drive, then email it or use it in other applications. Not sure if OnX will import a KMZ since I have not messed with OnX mapping much - I prefer the air photos on GoogleEarth as a rule. The latitude/longitude for the fire is given on Inciweb as 35° 45' 34'', -105° 30' 12" If you copy the bolded part, and plug that into GoogleEarth's search blank, it will take you to the fire location.

Anyway, once you have saved an outline of the fire footprint, you can turn that polygon on or off on GoogleEarth, and look at the time progression photos to see how it is changing. You can also see how much of the area within the polygon was not actually fully burned, and thus where live timber still stands.