Date of Award

Spring 6-13-2025

Document Type

Masters Capstone Project

Degree Name

M.S. in Geographic Information Science

Organizational Unit

College of Natural Science and Mathematics, Geography and the Environment

First Advisor

Steven Hick

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Keywords

Sage grouse, Anthropogenic, Disturbance, Modeling, AI

Abstract

Renewable energy projects often require extensive landcover for their operations. When one of these projects encroaches into territory of threatened species, such as Lesser Prairie Chickens, an analysis of habitat suitability and human disturbance is required to proceed. Traditionally, this involved manually reviewing aerial imagery within a 6-mile radius, digitizing features, and interpreting them using a human technician—an approach that was time-consuming and prone to human error. By using pretrained AI models within Model Builder™, the identification of roads and structures was automated, making the process faster and more consistent than manual visual analysis. As AI and technology continue to advance, these tools can be adapted for analyzing habitat and disturbances for other species, expanding their usefulness in environmental assessments for renewable energy projects.

Copyright Date

5-19-2025

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Rights Holder

Tara Hoelzer

Provenance

Received from author

File Format

application/pdf

Language

English (eng)

Extent

58 pgs

File Size

3.0 MB

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