Abstract: The California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) aerially videographed the mainstem of the Eel River and mainstems of its major tributaries: South Fork Eel River, Middle Fork Eel River, North Fork Eel River, and Van Duzen River, for reconnaissance of fish habitat in mainstems and for estimating erosion hazards and other watershed disturbance in minor tributaries. The observer was stationed in a light aircraft flying at 1,500 to 3,500 feet above ground level. The camerman recorded the observer's verbal comments, including names and survey codes of streams on-camera, watershed conditions (mostly off-camera), locations of landslides, and verbal GPS time (Trimble PF-PRO, 1993) onto the audio track of a hand-held, consumer-grade camcorder (Canon L1, Hi8 format). Aircraft and crew videographed over 640 miles of stream channel and recorded over 5 hours of narrative in 4 flights in the summer of 1993 (04/27/93 to 07/01/93). Video image sharpness and color quality were sufficient for identifying large, main channel pools, sand and gravel bars, and other large features within about 600 feet of stream banks. Highways, landslides, and downed trees were visible with good detail. Post-production includes videotape distribution copies (VHS), a catalog of video contents (dbase format) indexed to GPS time and registered to a geographic information system (GIS, ESRI ARCVIEW, 1995), and hardcopy maps of streams and stream survey codes. Detailed fish habitat information on individual streams tributary to the videographed rivers (DFG Inland Fisheries Division, in work) is referenced by stream survey code: verbally on the video tape narratives and digitally in the video catalog. Despite the riparian canopy-limited video visibility on minor tributaries and the difficulty of determining fish presence, quantifying fish habitat, and describing watershed conditions, the overall quality of the video/audio warrants the inclusion of video in DFG's suite of spatial data types. Rapidly acquired and processed video data will enhance technical support of DFG field biologists, Office of Oil Spill Prevention and Response (OSPR) operations, fish habitat restoration projects, special-status species consultations, and other natural resources analysis.

March 1996 Update:
The system described above will be upgraded by an integrated, digital video/GPS system (SONY; HORITA, 1996) by the end of March. The new system proposes to enable digital video recordings with industry-standard timecode included on one audio track and observer narrative on a second audio track. The timecode will be automatically set to UTC (Universal Time Constant, or "GPS time"), freeing the narrator/observer from having to make verbal 'time-stamps', thereby improving reconnaissance quality. The digital media facilitate automated image cataloging and GIS integration, and are expected to generate distribution copies superior in quality to conventional video products.

Data Contact:

Scott Downie
Dept. Fish and Game - Inland Fisheries Division
P.O. Box 770 Redway, CA 95560 707-923-4802

Tech. Contact:

Paul Veisze, Mike Byrne
Dept. Fish and Game - TSB GIS Unit
1730 "I" Street, Suite 100 Sacramento, CA 95814

pveisze@dfg.ca.gov 916-323-1667; FAX -1431
mbyrne@dfg.ca.gov 916-654-7631; FAX -8099