Uncrewed aerial system imagery and collocated validation field plots from assessment of forest spatial pattern in Black Hills South Dakota, USA restoration treatments

This data publication includes uncrewed aerial system (UAS) imagery collected in 2023 to characterize the forest spatial pattern following five unique silvicultural prescriptions implemented in the Black Hills Experimental Forest in South Dakota. The imagery includes 6,185 photo points and is accompanied by 115 ground control points established to ensure alignment of the UAS and field observations, and 46 one-tenth acre circular plots of stem mapped Pinus ponderosa trees for use in validating both tree and plot level forest structural metrics. Additionally, a geospatial layer is provided that delineates and defines the management units and the five prescriptions implemented within them.
These data were collected to evaluate the ability of five individual tree marking strategies to recreate the historical clumping patterns seen in Black Hills ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) forests. The intention was to leverage UAS-derived forest inventory data from structure-from-motion photogrammetry to compare the spatial patterns from the individual tree marking strategies against locally collected metrics describing the historical range of variation.
For more information about this study and these data, see Tinkham et al. (in review) and the accompanying supplemental map (\Supplements\UAS_Flight_Plan.pdf) depicting the approximate ground control point locations and how the site was divided to minimize elevation change within the different uncrewed aerial system flights.