2006 Annual Report 4d.Progress report. This report serves to document research conducted under a reimbursable agreement between the ARS Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory and the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) Department of Agriculture. Additional details of research can be found in the report for the parent project 1265-12660-005-00D entitled, “SPECTRAL AND SPATIAL MEASUREMENTS AND MODELING TO IMPROVE NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT & ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY." Current methods of quantifying crop residue cover are inadequate for characterizing the spatial variability of residue cover within fields or across large regions. Objectives are to acquire remotely sensed imagery and develop remote sensing technologies for measuring and reporting crop residue cover in the Midwest. Multispectral and hyperspectral remotely sensed data will be acquired over agricultural fields shortly after planting in Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa. Crop residue cover will be measured in corn and soybean fields using line-point transects. Spectral residue indices will be calibrated on a subset of fields and tested with other fields and locations. The tillage intensity class of each field will be identified based on crop residue cover. Information on the previous season’s crop will be merged with current residue cover to produce an inventory of soil tillage intensity by crop type for each test site. Crop residue cover was measured in more than 50 fields in study sites in both Illinois and Indiana. Aircraft and satellite data were acquired and will be analyzed in next year.