Use of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) for the USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service in Utah

The use of aerial imagery is a vital tool for conservation planning, engineering and soils mapping work within the USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and its use within the agency dates back to 1935. The bulk of this imagery has usually been acquired through the use of piloted, fixed-wing aircraft. The advancements and increased reliability of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) has enabled NRCS-Utah to gather project imagery using a relatively low-cost platform fit with a camera system.
NRCS-Utah and its partners require a variety of tools to adequately plan, design, install and monitor a host of conservation practices. These practices are installed on landscapes including densely cropped areas, pasturelands and difficult to reach rangelands and stream corridors.
The use of UAS, also commonly referred to as drones, is increasing dramatically due to the ease of use, low cost and the variety of applications. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is currently finalizing regulations for the operation of these systems. Under recent FAA policy, NRCS-Utah has applied for a Certificate of Authorization (CoA) through the FAA to operate four separate systems in Utah. One system is used mainly for snow survey/vegetation analysis and the other three systems are used for engineering, planning, mapping and conservation practice or easement monitoring activities.
This presentation will focus on the use of UAS in support of engineering, monitoring, conservation planning and natural resource assessments. A summary of existing FAA policy, NRCS-Utah UAS operations, and project-specific examples of UAS photography and video are shown in the presentation.