At Utah Drone, we know how much work goes into protecting Utah’s land, water, and wildlife. Good decisions start with good data, and drones are one of the fastest and least intrusive ways to collect it. Our FAA Part 107 certified pilots gather repeatable aerial data that supports habitat assessment, pollution detection, wildlife monitoring, reclamation tracking, and more. Whether you are a conservation organization, a government agency, an environmental consultant, or a private landowner, we deliver imagery and maps you can act on.
Our services include
- Habitat assessment and conservation monitoring
- Pollution detection and environmental compliance documentation
- Wildlife monitoring and biodiversity surveys
- Remote sensing and natural resource management
- Reclamation, restoration, and erosion monitoring
What we deliver
Every site is different, so we start by asking what question you need answered. From there we build a flight plan and a deliverable list to match. Common deliverables include:
- Orthomosaic maps: high-resolution, georeferenced aerial maps stitched from hundreds of overlapping photos, ready to load into your GIS software.
- Change detection over time: repeat flights on the same flight plan so you can compare shoreline, vegetation, or ground conditions month to month or year to year.
- Vegetation health imagery: aerial imagery that helps you spot stressed, bare, or recovering plant cover across a site.
- Thermal imagery: heat-based imaging that can reveal seepage, temperature differences near discharge points, and other conditions that are hard to see from the ground.
- Elevation models and volume measurements: for tracking erosion, sediment movement, and earthwork on reclamation sites.
- Photos and video: clear documentation for reports, grant applications, and public meetings.
Environmental monitoring across Utah
Great Salt Lake shoreline and wetlands
As lake levels rise and fall, the shoreline and the wetlands around it move with them. Repeat drone mapping documents exposed lakebed, changes in wetland extent, vegetation encroachment, and the condition of dikes and water control structures. Because the flights are repeatable, the maps line up from one season to the next, which makes changes easy to see and measure.
Wildfire burn scars
After a fire in Utah’s foothills and canyons, land managers need to know where vegetation is coming back, where soil is still bare, and where erosion or debris flows could threaten roads and homes below. We map burn scars soon after a fire and re-fly them in later seasons to track recovery and the performance of seeding and erosion control work.
Mine and gravel pit reclamation
Utah’s mining and aggregate operations carry reclamation obligations, and regulators want to see progress. Drone maps and elevation models document regrading, topsoil placement, and revegetation over time, giving you a clear record for reporting without sending crews onto unstable slopes.
Erosion and stream restoration
Stream banks, cut slopes, trails, and rangeland all erode, and small changes are hard to notice on foot. Comparing elevation models from repeat flights shows exactly where material is being lost or deposited, so you can focus restoration work where it matters and confirm that it is holding.
Our process
- Scope: we talk through your question, the area to be covered, how often you need data, and the file formats you work with.
- Plan: we check airspace, arrange any FAA authorization or land-manager permission, and schedule around wildlife and weather.
- Fly: we use automated flight plans for consistent coverage, with ground control points when higher positional accuracy is needed.
- Deliver: we process the data into maps, models, and imagery you can open in standard GIS tools, and we keep the flight plan on file so the next flight matches.
Compliance and low-impact flying
All of our pilots are FAA Part 107 certified. We check airspace before every flight and obtain FAA authorization when a site sits in controlled airspace near an airport. Much of Utah’s most sensitive habitat is managed by state and federal agencies, and many of those areas restrict or prohibit drone flights, so we coordinate with land managers before we fly. We also follow seasonal closures and keep our distance from nesting birds and other wildlife, so that monitoring never disturbs the resource it is meant to protect.
Why Utah Drone
- Utah-based team that serves sites statewide
- Repeatable flight plans for reliable comparison over time
- Deliverables that fit your existing GIS and reporting workflow
- Direct communication with the people who plan and fly your project
Ready to put drone data to work on your environmental monitoring project? Call us at (385) 417-4017 or email contact@utahdronevideo.com to discuss your site, request a free quote, or schedule a consultation.