On Wednesday, June 11, Duke Forest staff joined Libby White from the Marine Robotics and Remote Sensing Lab at the Concrete Bridge for the second and final pre-restoration drone flight of New Hope Creek. This flight, along with one from last fall, captured high-resolution LiDAR and visible light data during two distinct seasonal conditions. Together, these datasets provide a detailed map of New Hope Creek’s floodplain and the surrounding vegetation both before and after tree leaf-out, encompassing 1.25 km (0.78 mi) of the creek between the site of the future clear-span bridge and past the Billy Erwin Dam.
To ensure high accuracy, the team used a GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) and RTK (Real-Time Kinematic) drone system. The resulting data and imagery are precise to within a centimeter. Although this type of LiDAR cannot penetrate water to map the creek bed, our Assistant Director of Teaching and Research, Lee Anne Reilly, has been leading efforts to manually measure stream width and depth at designated cross-sections. These measurements will help fill gaps in the aerial dataset.
Following the completion of the three-phase NHC restoration project, seasonal drone flights and manual surveys will continue. These efforts are essential for tracking changes in the creek’s hydrology and geomorphology to understand how the ecosystem recovers over time. This important work, which will also support future teaching and research opportunities, is made possible through a generous gift from Tim and Lori Rowe.