A landscape-scale remote sensing/GIS tool to assess eastern hemlock vulnerability to hemlock woolly adelgid-induced decline

The hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae Annand) (HWA) is an invasive insect pest that is causing widespread mortality of eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis (L.) Carr.). However, some stands remain living more than a decade after infestation. The ability to target management efforts in locations where hemlock is most likely to tolerate prolonged HWA infestation is critical to successful integrated pestmanagement programs. Here, we build a landscape-scale hemlock risk model for the Catskills region of New York based on coverage like slope and aspect derived from a traditional Digital Elevation Model (DEM). We also show that additional data layers derived from hyperspectral sensors such as NASA�s Airborne Visible InfraRed Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) can provide critical information for geographic information system (GIS) modeling. The initial landscape-only model was able to predict the rate of overall decline following HWA infestation for 21 plots across the Northeast with R2