MILITARY TRAINING IMPACT ASSESSMENT AND MONITORING UTILIZING 
REMOTELY SENSED IMAGES AND GROUND TRUTH OBSERVATIONS 
J. Carlson, E. Hagemann, P. Maggio, P. Pope and J. Walkey 
Environmental Remote Sensing Center, University of Wisconsin, Madison 
Madison, Wisconsin, U.S.A. 
ABSTRACT 
This study, as part of a larger project, investigated the utility of remote sensing and geographic 
information systems (GIS) for the detection, monitoring and classification of changes in land cover resulting 
from military training maneuvers on Fort Bliss, Texas. The integration of multi-temporal satellite imagery, 
aerial photos, existing databases and field studies utilizing Global Positioning Systems (GPS) provided 
information on the ability of the various technologies and methodologies to detect impacts, to monitor change 
in land cover over time due to impacts and to quantify levels of impact. 
1. INTRODUCTION 
1.1. Background 
Remote sensing-based studies of arid lands 
have proven particularly useful in gaining an 
understanding of fragile desert environments 
(Peterson ef al., 1987). Imagery from remote 
sensors, such as Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM), 
Systeme Probatoire d'Observation de la Terre 
(SPOT), and high altitude aerial photography have 
provided an impetus to  augment resource 
management efforts in arid lands (Lillesand and 
Kiefer, 1994). Desertification and degradation of 
arid and semi-arid lands has been estimated to 
affect 19% of global land area to some degree. In 
North America fully 37% of arid or semi-arid 
lands have experienced severe to extremely severe 
degradation (Dregne, 1977). There is a need to 
understand and model the causes and consequences 
of desertification in order to ameliorate the effects 
of potentially destructive land uses. 
The Army has established the Integrated 
Training Area Management (ITAM) mission to 
investigate land-use and land-cover relationships in 
the installations which they administer. A fully 
implemented ITAM program would provide 
decision makers with the information necessary to 
plan training activities while optimizing the 
protection of military-base ecological resources. 
The Army Environmental Center (AEC) 
Was a sponsor of a project at the University of 
Wisconsin-Madison's | Environmental Remote 
Sensing Center which analyzed the development of 
remote sensing and GIS methods to be used in the 
ITAM mission (Environmental Monitoring 
Practicum, 1995). Conducted on the Army base of 
Fort Bliss and the Jornada Long Term Ecological 
Research Site, located in southwestern Texas and 
southern New Mexico, that collaborative project 
investigated the approximately 1000 km? of the 
base used regularly for vehicle maneuvers. 
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1.2. Project Objective and Impact Definition 
This project's main goal was to determine 
the utility of remote sensing techniques for 
evaluating impacts to the maneuver areas at Ft. 
Bliss. Detection, monitoring, and quantification of 
impacts were key objectives of the analysis. 
Fundamental to the analysis was a 
definition of impacts. Off-road vehicle activities 
have been shown to cause loss of vegetation cover 
resulting in accelerated soil erosion (Tuttle and 
Griggs, 1987). Impacts due to vehicle activity at 
Ft. Bliss include sparse or absent interdunal 
vegetation in the mesquite covered dune training 
areas, damage to the coppice dunes, replacement of 
relic grasslands by non-native grasses and 
shrubland, as well as increases in dune drift, soil 
erosion and dust (Goran ef al., 1983; Shaw and 
Diersing, 1990; Tuttle and Griggs, 1987). 
Loss of interdunal vegetation, the most 
frequently observed impact (Goran ef al., 1983; 
Marston, 1986), was adopted as the definition of 
training impacts. While there are various ground- 
based techniques for making detailed assessments 
of these and other training impacts (Marston, 
1986; Goran et al, 1983), it is the loss of 
interdunal vegetation which would be most 
detectable with remote sensing techniques. 
2. STUDY AREA 
Training activity at Ft. Bliss occurs on 
1,339 km“ (330,891 acres) of the Tularosa Valley. 
This area is divided into fifteen Maneuver Area 
(MA) units. This portion of the Tularosa Basin is 
dominated by rounded and elongated coppice dunes 
fixed by mesquite (Prosopsis glandulosa) with 
small, isolated grassland (Bouteloua eriopoda) 
flats (Marston, 1986). 
The Ft. Bliss environmental staff 
suggested four out of the fifteen MAs as the focus 
for study. These included MAs 4C, 4D, 5D, and 
SE. These areas were selected because they