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Research Project: Enhancing Long-Term Agroecosystem Sustainability of Water and Soil Resources Through Science and Technology

Location: Water Quality and Ecology Research

Title: Quantifying agricultural flooding practices for migratory birds: a test-case of incentivized habitat management in the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta (USA) using in situ sensors, digital elevation models, and PlanetScope imagery

Author
item Heintzman, Lucas
item Langendoen, Eddy
item Moore, Matthew
item Barrett, Damien
item MCINTYRE, NANCY - Texas Tech University
item Witthaus, Lindsey
item Lizotte Jr, Richard
item Johnson Ii, Frank
item Locke, Martin
item Blocker, Victoria
item Ursic, Michael
item Nelson, Amanda
item Taylor, Jason
item HOEKSEMA, JASON - University Of Mississippi

Submitted to: Remote Sensing
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/2/2026
Publication Date: 2/2/2026
Citation: Heintzman, L.J., Langendoen, E.J., Moore, M.T., Barrett, D.E., Mcintyre, N.E., Witthaus, L.M., Lizotte Jr, R.E., Johnson Ii, F.E., Locke, M.A., Blocker, V.M., Ursic, M.E., Nelson, A.M., Taylor, J.M., Hoeksema, J.D. 2026. Quantifying agricultural flooding practices for migratory birds: a test-case of incentivized habitat management in the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta (USA) using in situ sensors, digital elevation models, and PlanetScope imagery. Remote Sensing. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs18030477.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/rs18030477

Interpretive Summary: Farmers can add a shallow flood to their fields after harvesting in early Fall to give migratory shorebirds a habitat to rest and feed. Limited government and non-profit funds are available to incentivize this flooding, and some farmers participate due to their own personal interests. Within the Mississippi Delta, there was previously no rapid way to determine how many acres are being flooded for this habitat. We created a way to use satellite images and and other special computer models to quickly determine how the flooded acres change throughout the Fall and Winter. This will provide farmers and conservation agencies with more accurate information on practice implementation and proper field placement for participation.

Technical Abstract: The Yazoo-Mississippi Delta is an agricultural production zone and flyway for migratory birds. During winter, agricultural field flooding practices are routinely used to support bird conservation and local recreational hunting opportunities. In response to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, federal agencies incentivized flooding in summer and fall to mitigate risks to migratory birds. This funding ceased in 2017, yet the United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service Environmental Quality Incentives Program Practice 644 and a local non-profit continue to incentivize flooding during fall. Ensuring contractual water levels are met is challenging to determine. We developed the Field Inundation Tool/Survey, an integrated remote sensing approach using PlanetScope imagery (Planet Labs, San Francisco, USA) to quantify associated hydrology patterns. We used the Normalized Difference Water Index and an Iso-Cluster Unsupervised Classification to estimate field inundation and associated habitat types over a three-year period. Results indicate dynamic field inundation can be estimated via PlanetScope imagery. Derived inundation metrics were comparable with in situ sensor and digital elevation models among some treatment types. We documented future refinements for image quality and soil patterns. Our work can improve conservation incentivization by tracking spatial and temporal patterns in adoption and has applicability to other agroecosystems.