Daffy Duck may not be a big space fan, as his nemesis Marvin the Martian could probably attest. But now thanks to a satellite monitoring program run by an international conservation group, Daffy and many of his feathery relatives have space to thank for their survival in the wild.

Ducks Unlimited, a conservation organization based in the United States, is helping in the fight to save endangered waterfowl and other creatures by using space satellite images to map these animals natural habitat: wetlands. Such images have already allowed scientists to chart more than 350 million acres of wildlife habitats in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.

Wetlands like this grassy area in the Missouri Coteau Region of North Dakota are common living grounds for waterfowl.

Recent estimates show that nearly 70 percent of the natural wetlands in the United States have been damaged or destroyed as a result of human interactions with the terrain. In some areas like the Central Valley of California 95 percent of wetlands have been wiped out. Since about 200 animal species call wetland habitats home, its no wonder that organizations such as Ducks Unlimited are taking steps to ensure the health of wetlands the world over.

"As a habitat organization, were focused on preserving, restoring, and enhancing the wetlands for waterfowl," said Kempka. "But actually what we try to do is develop projects that not only benefit ducks and geese, but all sorts of critters shorebirds and turtles and all sorts of different species."

To track wetlands by remote sensing, Ducks Unlimited uses data gathered by the Thematic Mapper instrument on board one of NASAs Landsat Earth-monitoring satellites. This instrument allows scientists to map where wetland areas occur now, and how theyve changed over time.

The Thematic Mapper works by gathering reflected radiation from the Earth's surface. The range of energy that it can detect spans the visible, through the mid-infrared, and into the thermal-infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. Once collected, this satellite data then gets processed and turned into color-coded maps of the land.

"Using satellite imagery is a cost-efficient way of mapping huge wetlandlandscapes."

"We see things [in the data] that indicate theres moisture, and then we go out on the field to verify that," explained Kempka. When the scientists return to their labs, they train their computers to recognize different satellite data signals as different types of terrain.

"When we first started, we just mapped the wetlands. But [drier] uplands and wetlands are intimately related what you do in the upland is going to impact the wetland," said Kempka. "Now, when we have a satellite image, well in most cases, map all the land cover types."

Since the Thematic Mapper cant see through clouds, Ducks Unlimited also employs RADAR satellite data to view the Earths landscape when the weather is overcast. This information often comes in handy because "in a lot of areas where there are wetlands, theres a lot of moisture and a lot of clouds," said Kempka.

Although there are wetland areas throughout the United States and in many other regions of the world, Ducks Unlimited is currently working to protect a few key areas in the Americas. The main one is located in the north-central United States and the prairie regions in Canada.

"This is where most of the ducks in North America breed, so thats what we call the Duck Factory," said Kempka.

Of course, many waterfowl species migrate, or fly south, for the cold winter months, and so there are plenty of highly-monitored areas where birds nest for the winter as well.

"Central Valley, California is a big wintering ground for ducks, as are some of the coastal areas in Mexico and the Gulf coast," said Kempka. "From Missouri down [along the Mississippi River] to New Orleans is also a very important migratory corridor for waterfowl, and there are some areas on the East coast, like the Chesapeake Bay region."

Ducks Unlimited is also looking to closely monitor the Pantanal region of Brazil, the largest freshwater wetland in the world. Amazingly, some North American birds travel all the way down to the Pantanal to winter, making it an important region to study.

Space satellites can track migration patterns of Canada geese outfitted with radio transmitters.

"Basically, we want to know what habitats [waterfowl] use and whether they need any protection or management," said Bruce Batt, Ducks Unlimiteds chief biologist.

Starting last fall, the organization began tracking a small population of Greenland and Newfoundland geese, which were outfitted with radio transmitters and tracked from space. Currently on their way back north from their wintering grounds, these birds will be joined by a new batch this summer, and will be monitored for one more year of migration.

"This is very much an unknown population of birds. So [the tracking data] is basic to how we design future management programs," explained Batt.

Up-to-date technology and ultra-modern satellites will soon help conservation organizations like Ducks Unlimited monitor wetlands even better than ever.

One satellite that Ducks Unlimited is hoping to work with is the new Ikonos satellite, which has an extremely high resolution multispectral mapping instrument on board.

"Traditionally, anything thats been under 10-meter resolution has been considered a military application," said Kempka. "Landsats Thematic Mapper is 30-meter spatial resolution. But Ikonos has 4-meter multi-spectral resolution, and its got 1-meter black and white capability as well. You can just merge them both together go get a really high resolution."

Also in their sights is a new radar satellite system called Lightsar. Perfect for wetland monitoring because of its fine resolution capabilities, Lightsar would be the United States answer to other international radar satellites already in use.

"The Canadians have their own radar satellite, and so do the Japanese and Europeans," said Kempka. "The United States now is trying to launch [Lightsar], which is better for our types of applications."