James Blaine Yule (February 21, 1884 – June 4, 1957) was an American forestry engineer, who pioneered aerial photography and photogrammetry for the purpose of forest management and controlling wildfires.
[1][2] Yule enrolled at the University of Montana in Missoula, where he studied engineering, although work on the family ranch inhibited the completion of his degree.
As a student his interest and cartographic skill was already apparent, as evinced by his creation of a hand-drawn campus map for an engineering course, dated February 1, 1906.
In 1917, Yule was transferred to the Forest Service's division of engineering, where he was promoted to chief of maps and surveys, a position he held for thirty years until his retirement in 1947.
[6] As the chief of maps and surveys, Yule married his skill and knowledge of map-making with his World War I experiences in aircraft research by the mid-1920s.