Hope from above: study finds satellites could help Ontario conservation authorities protect wetlands

By Anushka Yadav, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Pointer “Conservation authorities face a practical question: do we need to pay for expensive high-resolution satellite imagery, or can free imagery do the job?,” Toronto and Region Conservation Authority Senior Manager of Ecosystem & Climate Science, Jonathan Ruppert, wondered. Nearly two years ago, Ruppert along with four other researchers set out to one of Brampton’s most ecologically important nature preserves to get an answer to that question at a time when conservationists across Ontario are increasingly being asked to do more with less.