Uncrewed Aerial System Digital Surface Model and Multispectral Footprints for the Rio De Las Vacas, New Mexico, USA, Summer 2025

In this study we are deploying several sensor arrays within a small stream channel, the Rio De Las Vacas, in the Jemez mountains of Northern New Mexico in coordination with a local partner, who are implementing several low-tech process based restorative practices including Beaver Dam Analogs (BDAs). This cooperation has allowed us to build a hydrological picture before and after the construction of the BDAs. In 2024, we deployed sensors at eight locations in the stream to measure changes in streamflow, baseflow, runoff, temperature, and stream metabolism (a function of stream ecosystem productivity and health). In 2026, multiple BDA’s are being built over several miles of the stream. Coinciding with sensor monitoring, uncrewed aerial system (UAS) flyovers will quantify changes to topography and floodplain vegetation between pre- and post-implementation. The data available in this data release record the pre-implementation topography in the form of a digital surface model and vegetation using multispectral Near-Infrared data (for the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) from multiple flyovers on the 25th of August 2025. These data will be paired with future post-implementation flyovers to look at topographic and vegetation changes resulting from BDA implementation. These UAS flyovers are being performed by Mountain Studies Institute, in cooperation with the USGS. Included herein is a (1) Digital Surface Model, (2) an orthophotograph, and (3) multispectral near-Infrared model, all at a 5 cm resolution. This dataset represents a control reach, or portion of the stream, that will have no BDA infrastructure and are labeled ‘north.’ They are also provided for a reach that will include BDA’s and are labeled ‘south.’ Finally, an aerial flyover video is provided for the ‘north’ and ‘south’ sections of the Rio De Las Vacas.