REPORT OF COMMISSION VII 
G VI1-3 5 
wild forest lands and the fire hazard is particularly severe. Where fires are 
commonly large, the photo interpreter has a designated place in the fire organi 
zation. Photo interpretation is making it possible to quickly and accurately ob 
tain information on fuel types, slope, topography, natural barriers, water sources, 
existing roads, travel routes, safe campsites, and fire line locations. Air photos 
are used for general planning as well as for detailed orientation and instructions 
for fire crews. Often they are the only source of information for the Fire Boss. 
Aerial photos of the fire in progress provide information needed to combat it 
successfully. After the fire is over, the forester uses aerial photos in assessing 
the fire loss. On the Tillamook Burn aerial photos were used to establish the 
location of permanent fire breaks. 
PHOTO INTERPRETATION AIDS REFORESTATION 
While aerial photos cannot provide all the information needed for artificial 
reforestation they do eliminate a considerable portion of the ground examina 
tion. The largest single project in the United States is being conducted by the 
Oregon State Board of Forestry on the Tillamook Burn. Five hundred square 
miles were photographed at a scale of 1:12,000 on panchromatic film during 
the summers of 1953, 1954, and 1955. Infrared photography was also com 
pleted on a portion of the area. This photography was used in classifying the 
extensive burned areas as to the degree of stocking present. Areas that ap 
peared understocked were further classified as to suitability for aerial seeding. 
Topography, aspect, density of vegetational cover, and abundance of snags 
were considered in setting up priorities for aerial seeding areas. Aerial photos 
were also used to set up priorities for hand planting areas. Ground examination 
was still needed on areas where seedlings were too small to resolve on the photos 
or where brush covered the small trees. 
PHOTO INTERPRETATION MAKES PROGRESS IN WILDLIFE 
Progressively greater use has been made of aerial photographs by wildlife 
research and management agencies. The most wide-spread use has been as maps 
and as an aid in cover-mapping. Probably all of the State Fish and Game De 
partments now utilize aerial photographs in their wildlife habitat improvement 
programs. Somewhat greater use has been made in inventorying wild animals, 
such as wintering concentrations of waterfowl, caribou and moose. The photos 
are used also in checking the accuracy of ground counts of game animals. 
So far as is now known, no noteworthy new techniques or instruments of 
particular importance to photo interpretation in the wildlife field have been 
developed in the past four years. Progress has been made, however, in refining 
stratification and sampling techniques in interpreting photos of waterfowl 
concentrations. 
Ducks, numbering about If million and concentrated on about 1,000 acres 
of water, may be photographed and counted with a fair degree of accuracy. 
Photos were taken at height of 700 to 1,800 feet, at air speeds of 120 to 160 
m.p.h., with K-22 camera, at about f-8 with speed of 1/150 sec. 
Vertical aerial photos at a scale of 1:15,840 or 1:20,000 are adequate for 
informative cover mapping for wildlife purposes, when ground checks are made 
of the vegetation as a control. 
“Water-course” rather than a “strip census” method of inventorying moose 
from the air has been suggested for use in remote isolated areas. Aerial photog 
raphy was used to check the accuracy of aerial observations and for analyzing 
habitat types in which the moose were found.