Answer Key:

1) Road = C

The road was easily identified by shape – sharp outlines, as one would expect from a manmade feature, and color – a bright spectral response as one would expect from concrete in a false color composite image.

2) Water = A

The body of water is identified by shape – irregular, as one would expect along a lakeshore, and color – a dark spectral response since water absorbs infrared light, but with some blue color due to sediment.

3) Cultivated land = E

The cultivated land is identified by its pattern – you can see the rows of crops, and color – red due to vegetation (vegetation appears red in the near infrared band).

4) Hardwood stand = B

This is identified by texture – rough as one would look for in a mature forest, and color – grayish-pink. As this photo is taken in February (one can see the date in the upper right hand corner), hardwoods would have no new leaves as yet.

5) Mature pine stand = D

This is identified also by texture – rough, mature trees, and color – pines would have all their needles even in winter, but also by convergence of evidence – the knowledge that the infrared band causes vegetation to show as red and the knowledge that pines would be the only trees to have green vegetation in winter.

Roads between towns are highly visible – these are evidence of transportation organization. In the southeast corner of the photo (identified by “E”), farmland development is present. Mining is confined to the southwest region shown in the photo. Much of the western half of the region seems to be organized in terms of pine plantations – evidence that the Forest Service possibly maintains or supervises reforestation efforts here. (Or these could be areas of commercial development for future lumber harvests.) Across the photo you see evidence that the land has been parceled out – there are straight edged boundaries to forests and fields where in wild forests we would not see that.