Technical Abstract: Determining rangeland composition and trend is often difficult and time consuming. In the northern latitudes, ground assessment and monitoring is limited by the short growing season and the large amount of rangeland that must be assessed within a season. This manuscript reports the design and functionality of the COAST Digital Imaging System. The procedure uses a digital camera and rigorous sampling protocol to monitor foliar cover changes in leafy spurge (Euphorbia esula L.). Results indicate that the procedure is more precise than the traditional Daubenmire sampling and can substantially increase the number of sites visited in a season. Much of the analytical work is shifted to the winter months when more time is available. This procedure increases the frequency of sampling, which provides a better statistical representation of an area. The data also provides the opportunity to archive images for temporal analysis and to obtain additional information not thought necessary when the images were acquired.