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Cover Crop Mapping in Skagit County: A Multi-Sensor Remote Sensing Approach
Wednesday May 20, 2026 4:00pm - 4:30pm PDT
409
Sustainable farming practices can limit the impacts of climate change on crop production while maintaining soil and water health for local communities. Cover cropping involves the planting of vegetation on agricultural fields during the non-growing season and provides multiple agronomic benefits including reduced soil erosion and nutrient runoff, lower water pollution risks, and improved soil structure and nutrient cycling. As future climate projections for the Pacific Northwest indicate increasing frequency of heavy rainfall and flooding events, adoption of these practices is becoming increasingly critical for regional agricultural resilience.
The Skagit Conservation District provides education, funding, and technical support for sustainable farming practices including cover cropping. To support cover crop outreach and education within the Skagit community, this study leverages multi-source remote sensing data to map and visualize winter cover crop practices across Skagit County agricultural fields from the 1980s to present. Historical Landsat Collection 2 Level-2 imagery, courtesy of the NASA/USGS Landsat program, provides a long-term time series, while Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 data acquired via the Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem and the Alaska Satellite Facility DAAC extend the analysis with higher spatial resolution from 2017 onward.
Using agricultural field boundaries from the Washington State Department of Agriculture 2024 crop layer, winter vegetation conditions are assessed across seasonal agricultural fields during the November–February window using three complementary indices: Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Normalized Difference Tillage Index (NDTI), and Sentinel-1 SAR VH/VV backscatter ratio, the latter providing cloud-independent coverage during periods of persistent overcast conditions characteristic of Skagit County winters. Known cover crop fields from Skagit Conservation District farmer partnerships serve as validation data.
Analysis is ongoing. Upon completion, results will be published as an ArcGIS StoryMap and interactive Web App to support conservation outreach and communicate the long-term trajectory of cover crop adoption across Skagit County.
Speakers
avatar for Emma Tomaszewski

Emma Tomaszewski

GIS Specialist, Skagit Conservation District
Emma Tomaszewski is a GIS Specialist at the Skagit Conservation District, where she supports conservation outreach and education through mapping and geospatial analysis. She holds a Master's degree in Ecology and brings over a decade of experience applying spatial analysis and data... Read More →
Wednesday May 20, 2026 4:00pm - 4:30pm PDT
409
  Remote Sensing, Land Cover

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