Freshkills Park

Aerial Insight: Using GIS and Drone Technology to Track Biodiversity at Freshkills park

How do drone imagery and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) provide insights into the ecological restoration projects within an urban post-landfill park?

ABSTRACT: The project explores biodiversity at Freshkills Park in Staten Island, NY, in partnership with the Freshkills Park Alliance. Using drone aerial photography and GIS to map grassland and wetland habitats, the project engages students in environmental science and sustainability, addressing ecosystem management and restoration. Activities include group discussions, site visits, and using tools like ArcGIS and drones to document conditions and assess biodiversity changes.

Special Thanks to Christopher Ricker, Freshkills Park Program Coordinator for the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation

DJI Mini Pro 4 Used for Aerial Photography

INTRODUCTION

The field of habitat assessment can be greatly improved by the integration of new technologies including GIS and aerial photography drones. For years data has been primarily collected and processed through the use of spreadsheets. What if you could take that spreadsheet and convert it into an interactive map where anyone could understand it. The use of these technologies in habitat assessment will allow for better data collection and processing which will benefit not only the observed species but also aid the researchers in their process and visualization.

What Is Habitat Assessment?

Habitat assessment is an evaluation of the habitat quality of a specific site, as well as the integrity of aquatic and terrestrial systems and their ability to support life. These assessments allow us to better understand the species within our site, as well as better protect their habitats. Along with influencing what permitting, and development plans can be approved for the site. During our research at Freshkills, we came across a handful of species. Those being: Ladybugs; Snails; Spiders; Grasshoppers; Crickets. 

One goal of a habitat assessment at Freshkills is an understanding of the species that call Freshkills home. This is crucial in allowing us to manage and restore habitats accordingly. Another goal is to understand the potential population growth based on the resources in the area. Being able to calculate population growth of the species in Freshkills gives us the tools to combat overpopulation and habitat destruction. One final goal of a habitat assessment at Freshkills is to learn about the species’ interactions within the environment. Both species with other species and species with the habitat they inhabit.


BACKGROUND

  • Before Freshkills was turned into a landfill, it was a large wetland protecting Staten Island's western edge from erosion and flooding. Then, in 1948, a man named Robert Moses decided that Staten Island no longer needed this wetland and its protection. Instead, a landfill should take its place. So, Freshkills landfill was born. Originally supposed to be open for only 3 years, Freshkills landfill was operational for 53 years. Over these 53 years, Freshkills landfill collected over 150 millions tons of solid waste, becoming the largest landfill in the world. There are rumors that you could see the landfill from space. On May 21st, 2001, Freshkills landfill received its last barge of trash, and was officially closed for good. However, due to the events of 9/11, Freshkills reopened briefly to assist in rubble search efforts. Eventually, after years of hard work, on October 4th, 2012, the Schmul Park portion of Freshkills Park was opened to the public. This was the first portion of Freshkills park to be opened.
  • As mentioned previously, Freshkills played an important role in the environment of Staten Island, before it was turned into a landfill. As a wetland, Freshkills did four important jobs. Flood control, water quality improvement, shoreline erosion control, and creating habitats for struggling species. For flood and erosion control, wetlands work as something of a sponge. The soil in wetlands can absorb large amounts of water, decreasing the amount of flooding. Then, as flood water recedes after large storms or other major runoff events, the soil slowly releases the water back into the rivers and creeks, slowing the effects of erosion. When large storms blow through, runoff water can collect sediments, oils, pesticides, etc. This worsens the quality of the water. However, when this water enters a wetland, it flows through dense vegetation, which can catch large sediment buildup and assist it in settling on the wetlands surface.
  • Because of all of the trash that makes up the foundation of Freshkills, a special system was implemented to counteract the buildup of landfill gasses below the surface. The four main parts of this system are: The gas well heads, which assist in moving the landfill gasses to the on-site purification facility. The flare stations, which are used to burn off gasses when portions of the system need to be repaired. The leachate treatment plant, which uses different processes to break down the leachate. Lastly, the goose neck pipes - which aren’t in use yet - are going to be used to passively vent the landfill gasses when buildup is low enough. Landfill gasses are mainly methane and carbon dioxide. 

Landfill Cap (Freshkills Park)

  • Today Freshkills remains partially closed as the (DSNY) and (DEC) restore the landfill into a park.
  • Freshkills Park will be the largest park developed in New York City in over a century. Over 2,200 acres of open grasslands, waterways and engineered structures.
  • Since the closure of the Freshkills Landfill, diverse plant and animal species have flourished in the area.
  • Freshkills Park offers a unique opportunity to study ecosystem development in an urban environment.

CASE STUDIES

The Nature Conservancy is a wildlife conservation organization based in Colorado. They acquired their first drone in 2015 and began using it in various ways to benefit the land, water, and forest conservation efforts. One example of how drones have been used is taking “before and after” photos of prescribed fires and gathering footage of the fire to ensure it remains controlled and can be managed. They’ve even been used to track bison when staff couldn’t reach their locations. This is only the surface of what drones are capable of, and The Nature Conservancy plans to continue advancing in this field. 

Environmental Works is a company that utilizes drones for environmental field services and contracting. They achieve this in several ways. One use of their drones is surveying and mapping. Drones can be used for high-quality topographic surveys, and thanks to their ability to fly at low altitudes, they can provide far more accurate data than satellites can. They also use their drones for inspections using thermal imaging. High-precision thermal cameras are combined with drones to employ highly reliable thermal imaging to complete pipeline checks or measure leakage during refinery examinations. They believe drones are the future of these fields and find them to be cost-efficient as well.

ORTHOMOSAIC

An orthomosaic is a high-resolution aerial image created by stitching together multiple overlapping aerial photographs

Environmental Works, Inc.

ELEVATION GRADIENT

An elevation gradient refers to the rate of change in elevation over a horizontal distance. It essentially describes how steep an area of land is.

Sample


METHODOLOGY

What is ArcGIS and Drone2Map?

ArcGIS Online

ArcGIS is a powerful data visualization program that allows the conversion of data sets into geolocated visuals. This is done with the aid of maps and different types of graphs. Allowing for easier interpretations of data.

Drone2Map

Drone2map is an associated app of ESRI the creators of ArcGIS. This tool allows for a user to capture drone footage and convert it into newly geolocated maps in where images are stitched together to form new, more update maps.

FieldMaps

FieldMaps is an ESRI app that utilizes data-driven maps and surveys to help perform data capture and editing, find assets and information, and report their real-time locations.


How Has GIS Technology Been Used?

GIS technologies have been used to aid in the restoration and assessment of habitats all over the world. Technology is the way into a future of understanding. Being able to map and generate geolocated data has allowed for projects like the Dahei Mountain Ecological Restoration Area in China, where LANDSAT imagery was captured across multiple years to depict variations in soil erosion (Li et al., 2015). These steps into using GIS technologies will be the norm for the future.

Li et al 2015 & Impacts of biophysical and climate variables on the LST difference of forest minus open land.


The Integration of ArcGIS & Drones at Freshkills Park

ArcGIS allows for the possibility to incorporate real time data collection along side with providing a visual geolocated representation. With its combination of Drone2Map we will be able to update and evaluate the development of the local habitats while monitoring their adaptations to a urban setting.

Equipment Used

The drones we used were the DJI Mini 4 Pros. We also experimented with the  FIMI X8SE, but found lower success due to lower build quality, lack of features, and lack of wind resistance. The DJI Mini 4 Pro is a feature rich drone that can record footage in up to 4k 60 fps. This is beneficial when doing habitat assessment as it allows you to collect high quality footage that can be transferred into Drone2map, another one of the tools we used to create stitched maps of the images with Geolocated information. ArcGIS also played a vital role for the use of its interactive data display in the form of maps.

DJI Mini 4 Pros

What Type of Ecosystems Make Up Freshkills?

Freshkills Park is a mixture of marshy wetlands and grasslands. The majority of the grasslands are just the mounds themselves, whereas the wetlands make up most of the low areas. The “valleys” between the mounds, the shoreline, etc. Wetlands and grasslands are very important for the planet as a whole. Grasslands make up almost 40% of the Earth's green land, as well as 70% of the agricultural land worldwide. Being widely adaptable, and clear of deep wooded vegetation, grasslands are great for agriculture.

Wetlands provide habitats to reptiles, amphibians, birds, and mammals. All uniquely adapted to aquatic environments. Some species like deer and bears use wetlands for food and shelter. This makes wetlands a unique ecosystem for biodiversity as a number of different species live amongst each other within them. 


Applying Orthomosaic Imagery into GIS

Stitched Images


Species Data Collection

Potential Integration of ArcGIS Field Maps - Geolocated Surveys

Species Found near Wetlands


Data Analysis

Once the data is collected in the form of videos or images taken with our drone the internal geographical information has to be extracted in the form of a .txt or .csv file. What this allows is for Drone2map to stitch the images together based on the geographical location they were taken, allowing us to evaluate a change in a specific set area over a period of time. To ensure the accuracy of and reliability of data the survey collected pictures from students while simultaneously capturing the precise location to where the data was found. This plotted a point on an ArcGIS map where the data was then stored and analyzed for patterns and changes in the species that inhabit Freshkills.

Future Implementations

The use of GIS allowed for us to better understand the regions in which species at Freshkill have begun to populate the park as it converts from a landfill. The use of maps have also shown hotspots of insects species and how they have evolved to live in these area. As this project continues we can see the evolution of these species and how the environment changes impact them. With the usage of drones, researchers and conservationists can acquire aerial footage of the existing conditions of the property. This allows them to survey how the land and environment are doing, which gives them an idea of what needs to be done in order to preserve or restore the area. GIS technologies take this a step further. A GIS analyzes and displays information regarding the geographical conditions. For example, if a rare species of plant is discovered in a few locations, a GIS can give information about those areas to help give researchers an idea of where else to look for that particular plant species.


DJI Avata 2

  • FPV Drone (used for immersive exploration and data gathering
  • Comes with motion controller, but a standard controller can be purchased separately
  • Can record in up to super-wide 4K 60 FPS quality
  • Built in propeller guards
  • Turtle mode that automatically flips over the drone if stuck

DJI Phantom 4 RTK

  • Mapping specific drone
  • Gathers precise data using a 20-megapixel CMOS sensor
  • Optional mobile station that allows high precision satellite navigation/mapping

DJI Mavic 3 Pro

  • Cinematography targeted drone
  • Triple lens camera (1 Hasselblad Camera, Dual Tele Cameras)
  • Omnidirectional obstacle sensing like the DJI Mini 4 Pro
  • Hasselblad Camera: 5.1K/50fps, DCI 4K/120fps
  • Medium Tele/Tele Camera: 4K/60fps
  • Different color profiles varying on lens choice
  • Several package options, but I recommend either the Fly More Combo with the standard DJI RC controller or the Fly More Combo with the DJI RC Pro controller

DJI Enterprise Series Drones

  • These drones are targeted more towards professional field work
  • There are several options, but both main options remain portable (DJI Mavic 3E and DJI Mavic 3T
  • Both have similar specs, but the Mavic 3T has an exclusive thermal lens option
  • Same omnidirectional sensing


Take Aways

  • This project allowed for the exploration of technology in the field of habitat assessment and it proved that these technologies such as GIS can collect and simplify data for presentation and analysis. Furthermore it found ways to asses the changes of ecological systems within Freshkills and how the species which inhabit these spaces have changed due to the influence of urbanization.
  • Some key areas that would require further study would be in the use of drones and how they can play a vital role in the collection of data. Alongside this, better gyro stabilization incorporated into drones might allow them to theoretically be more efficient in the collection of orthographical images. 
  • Research as a whole needs new ways to incorporate the ever changing technologies that surround us. With the incorporation of GIS tools information can be collected and processed at a much faster rate with an ease of analysis and visualization. These tools can elevate habitat assessment and the field of research exponentially.

THANK YOU!

DJI Mini Pro 4 Used for Aerial Photography

ArcGIS Online

Drone2Map

FieldMaps

Landfill Cap (Freshkills Park)

Environmental Works, Inc.

Sample

DJI Mini 4 Pros