Dr. Susan Ustin's Center for Spatial Technologies And Remote Sensing deals primarily with interpretation of remote sensing imagery, applications of geographic information systems, and landscape modeling of vegetation, hydrology, and climatology.

CSTARS is proud to be a California Space Institute Center of Excellence. Our mission is to provide leadership and coordination of environmental remote sensing applications, education and outreach programs that promote core remote sensing and spatial technologies, and environmental content applications.

California Department of Boating and Waterways: Mapping Invasive Plant Species in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Region Using Hyperspectral Imagery

The University of California Davis, Calspace Center of Excellence, the California Department of Boating and Waterways (CDBW), and the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) cooperated on a pilot project in 2003 to map the aquatic weeds water hyacinth and Brazilian waterweed, and the riparian pepperweed in the Sacramento San Joaquin Delta.

Currently in it's second year, we are building upon the methodology developed in the pilot project and extending it to the entire Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Region to provide the CDBW and CDFA with a comprehensive baseline for documenting the distribution and extent of invasive species in the entire Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Region (shown in the bottom left figure) as well as a rapid, cost effective, and valuable technique to make informed decisions relevant to the extent and spread of invasive species. We will continue to target the invasive aquatic weeds water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) and Brazilian waterweed (Egeria densa) as well as the riparian pepperweed (Lepidium latifolium) and purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria). Hydrilla (Hydrilla verticillata) has not been found in the Delta in recent years, but has caused significant problems in other waterways throughout California. We will monitor the Delta for any new infestations of this aggressive aquatic weed.