Estimates of biomass production are important in a wildlife reserve such as Etosha National Park, Namibia, for assessment of fire risk and subsequent selection of sites for controlled burning. We present methodology for using locally acquired NOAA-AVHRR images to make estimates of biomass in near-to-real-time. To this end, techniques for rapid measurement of the biomass of herbaceous and woody vegetation were developed using a rising disc pasture meter and individual plant dimensions.