Our research confirmed that drones, if properly utilized, can be a useful tool to expand the monitoring reach of the Tejon Ranch Conservancy. However, Tejon Ranch is too large and variable in terrain to monitor in its entirety, multiple times per year, as would be desirable to detect invasive plant presence. Therefore, the Conservancy must prioritize specific areas to target for drone surveys. Through our MaxEnt model, the Conservancy can identify highly susceptible areas to conduct flights. The plant presence data that would be gathered from these flights could then be used as additional inputs for new iterations of the MaxEnt workflow to more accurately predict future invasive plant dispersal. This creates a positive feedback loop, in which the workflow is continually updated with environmental data and new presence data, and the overall monitoring framework becomes more robust and efficient. Over time, the Conservancy could also adapt this monitoring framework to include other conservation interests such as conifer mortality and endangered species monitoring. We believe that this framework may have potential applications for similarly resource-constrained organizations, facilitating conservation activities despite these limitations.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to thank the following individuals and organizations for their support of this project: our advisors including James Frew, Ashley Larsen, and David Theobald; our clients and collaborators at the Tejon Ranch Conservancy including Laura Pavliscak, Michael White, and Ben Teton; and our drone consultants including Todd White at RoboHawk Aerial Video & Imaging and Mark Dufau at AeroVironment, Inc. Panofsky Field site image courtesy of RoboHawk Aerial Video & Imaging.