NMC Scientist Chandler Eli Presents Advanced 3D Landscape Monitoring Research at IALE-North America 2026
NMC Scientist Chandler Eli Presents Advanced 3D Landscape Monitoring Research at IALE-North America 2026
New Mexico Consortium (NMC) scientist Chandler Eli presented research at the 2026 International Association for Landscape Ecology, North America (IALE-NA) Annual Meeting, held April 26–30 in Athens, Georgia. The conference celebrated the organization’s 40th anniversary and centered on the theme, “Landscape Ecology at 40: Learning from the Past, Shaping Resilient Futures.”
Chandler’s presentation, “Laser Scanning for 3D Landscapes: Advancing Monitoring, Management, and Fire Science,” showed how modern laser scanning technologies are changing the way scientists and land managers study forests and ecosystems. Additional co-authors on the presentation include Scott Pokswinski and Jacob Ney of the NMC, Louise Loudermilk, Christie Hawley, Irenee Payne, Michael Gallagher, and Russell Parsons of the USDA Forest Service; Lucas Wells of SilvxLab; Aaron Maxwell of West Virginia University; and Juan Castorena and Rodman Linn of Los Alamos National Laboratory.
The presentation focused on the growing use of LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), a remote sensing technology that uses lasers to create highly detailed 3D maps of landscapes. These tools look at forest structure, vegetation density, and changes caused by wildfire or ecosystem recovery with much greater detail and consistency than traditional field methods.
The team demonstrated how several LiDAR systems, which includes terrestrial laser scanners, aerial laser scanning, and mobile tablet-based systems, can work together to improve ecosystem monitoring and forest management. Their work included the use of advanced automated data-processing pipelines such as “IntELiMon” (Interagency Ecosystem LiDAR Monitoring) and mobile tools like “CruzAssist”, which help researchers efficiently collect and process large volumes of landscape data. Through the continued research and development of tools such as IntELiMon, NMC is helping advance next-generation ecosystem monitoring and landscape analysis technologies.
A major focus of this research is to improve wildfire science and forest management. By combining ground-based and aerial laser data with artificial intelligence, they are developing methods to create highly detailed 3D landscape models across large areas. These models can help fire managers to better understand fuel structure and distribution, predict fire behavior, evaluate fire effects, and support long-term ecosystem resilience.
In the presentation, Chandler emphasized that these technologies are already being tested and implemented in collaboration with federal, state, and private land management agencies across the United States. The work also includes training and feedback from land managers to make sure the tools meet real-world management needs.
As wildfires and climate-related disturbances continue to reshape landscapes around the world, advanced 3D monitoring technologies like LiDAR are becoming increasingly important to improve decision-making, to support resilient ecosystems, and to advance next-generation fire science.
To learn more, see the entire poster at: “Laser Scanning for 3D Landscapes: Advancing Monitoring, Management, and Fire Science.”