Foreshore Inventory Mapping & Drone Services

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Foreshore Inventory Mapping & Drone Services

CLIENT/LOCATION

Okanagan Indian Band – Swan Lake, BC

DATE

January 2022

DIVISION INVOLVED

Remote Sensing

Background

Swan Lake, located just east of the north end of Okanagan Lake between Vernon and Armstrong, provides important wetland habitats for a wide variety of plants and animals. The relatively shallow marshy lake is an essential resting and feeding stop for resident and migratory birds. Long recognized as an important region for wildlife, Swan Lake is now part of a wildlife management area to help protect birds, animals, and species at risk.

Challenge

Foreshore Inventory Mapping procedures aim to quantify the level of disturbance occurring along the shorelines of Swan Lake to help assess the rate of change occurring over time. These methods developed through Fisheries and Oceans Canada for use on freshwater lakes in British Columbia, also serve to target current foreshore conditions for regulatory agencies to allow for investigations into possible illegal activities or structures.

Solution

Cabin Resource Management was contracted to assist with the Foreshore Inventory Mapping along specified foreshore segments of Swan Lake. Cabin initially deployed a drone survey to create a high-resolution ortho-rectified image of Swan Lake’s foreshore. Using this ortho-mosaic imagery Cabin could then digitize land use polygons, shore types, aquatic vegetation, and artificial structures using GIS software. Each area was further classified by level disturbance before calculating the final metrics including lengths, areas, and proportions.

Previous methods of Foreshore Inventory Mapping consisted of visual surveys by boat along Swan Lake. Cabin offered a more comprehensive solution through the use of GIS and drone technology. Potential exists for an annual investigation to align with the Foreshore Inventory Mapping goal of assessing change over time.