Eradication efforts involve systematic reconnaissance flights, aerial photography and ground crews. The driving technologies of the program are GIS and GPS, which are used to locate and provide map coverage of the trees and to maintain databases on treatment progress and follow-up programs. We also share information, funding resources, and the research we all feel is needed. Every eight seconds the system beeps, and observers enter attribute codes relating to density and species seen in about a half-acre area. The data are given to the Forest Service, and they generate the estimated acreage for us.
Ground crews go to the sectors by airboat or helicopter, depending on the distance.
When crews spot a tree, they cut it down, treat the stump with herbicide, and pull up any seedlings in the area. A crew member enters the latitude and longitude of the stump into the GPS and fills out a report, noting treatment methods, number and size of trees treated and other related data. Then I make a plot that shows which sectors the field crews treated, what was done, when, and what eradication methods were used. Sector treatment dates are indicated on the map by color dots. We can display all the years on one map so we can tell what year a particular sector was treated.