STORY CONTACT: Larry Lass, (208) 885-7802, llass@uidaho.edu
MEDIA CONTACT: Bill Loftus, (208) 885-7694, bloftus@uidaho.edu

A University of Idaho scientist’s expertise in detecting specific plants from an airborne sensor won him a berth on an expedition to Rwanda to document mountain gorilla habitat.

Larry Lass, a UI research support scientist, normally spends his time refining ways to spot Idaho’s most troublesome weeds using an airborne hyperspectral sensor.

The National Geographic Society supported the Rwanda expedition. Lass spent a week in Rwanda gathering data.

In Idaho, Lass is analyzing image data of yellow starthistle-infested lands in Hells Canyon for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service. His other projects also use hyperspectral data to detect weeds in crops and spotted knapweed in Farragut State Park in northern Idaho.

Lass’s work relies on data collected by the Probe 1 hyperspectral sensor owned by McCall, Idaho——based Earth Search Sciences Inc. The sensor splits visible and infrared light spectrum into 128 bands rather than the four to seven bands analyzed by LandSAT or other aerial or satellite sensors.

His expertise in identifying the unique color signatures of plant species will be put to use in Rwanda to identify gorilla habitat. ESSI was contracted to do the work by the National Geographic Society, which will film a documentary.

The crew will work with members of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International in Rwanda’s Virunga Conservation Area. "Gorillas in the Mist" is based on her pioneering study of mountain gorillas. Fossey was murdered in 1985 at her camp near the Virunga Volcanoes.

After his visit to Rwanda in early August, Lass will spend two weeks analyzing the spectral signatures, the unique color profiles, of the plants important to the gorillas. The project will focus particular attention on bamboo locations. He will also use global positioning system technology to fine-tune the data for mapping.

The electronic data collected by the ESSI’s Probe 1 sensor, which is carried in a small airplane, will be combined with the information Lass collects on the ground to map the gorilla habitat.

The equipment functions as a digital camera and records vegetation in 16-foot squares. Known as hyperspectral analysis, the method works by compiling an electronic image made up of a nearly incalculable number of colors.

The work is still in the developmental stage, said UI weed scientist Donn Thill. "The thing about Larry going to Rwanda is: Someone has recognized his hyperspectral analysis expertise and they need his skills.

"It’s nice to see the university’s expertise is seen as world-class," Thill added.

"This is an extension of the work I did in Hells Canyon on yellow starthistle, basically looking at vegetation to detect pockets of starthistle and annual grasses. We also wanted to be able to identify where the good native grass communities were," Lass said.

The images from hyperspectral sensors allow land managers to complete detailed vegetation maps for a relatively small investment, Lass said.

"In the matter of one day using this method, they can gather enough information to keep someone busy for a year. It’s a very powerful tool. The thing is to get as much use from the information as possible," Thill added.

Close to home, knowing where the worst infestations of troublesome weeds grow can allow farmers to precisely target control efforts. In the case of interrupted windgrass in Palouse fields, it might mean applying a herbicide to just that section of the field, Thill said.

Hyperspectral analysis is still so new that its potential has barely been tapped. Lass’s Rwanda trip will give both the university and the science a boost, Thill predicted.

"It will give the lab international recognition for the work its doing," Thill said. "There also will be all kinds of applications that people will think of when this goes out in the popular media."