PRESQUE ISLE — The University of Maine at Presque Isle’s EPSCoR team and Environmental Studies and Sustainability Program hosted a GIS round table at the Campus Center on Feb. 26.
The round table was sponsored by Northern Maine Development Commission and the Maine GIS Users Group with collaboration from the UM Fort Kent and Machias GIS programs.
The forum consisted of 30 stakeholders, faculty, students and area professionals who explored issues and concerns related to climate change and the mitigation of issues in relation to long-range planning and sustainable development.
Dr. Chungzeng Wang, UMPI’s EPSCoR team member and Environmental Studies and Sustainability Program faculty member, delivered a PowerPoint presentation entitled “Using high-resolution CIR data for high-precision land-cover-land-use mapping and flood & soil-erosion mapping in central Aroostook County.”
He reported a land cover and land use mapping result for the town of Fort Fairfield, with a focus on grassland mapping for grass biomass potential assessment.
His presentation also discussed how CIR (color infrared) data would help high-precision flood and soil erosion mapping in The County that could benefit the communities and farmers. He said a similar project will be performed in the municipalities of Easton, Presque Isle and Caribou.
The round table was chaired by Ken Murchison of Northern Maine Development Commission, who led the discussions on concerns and issues related to climate change.
For example, the concerns and issues specific for northern Maine were identified as invasive species, flooding, soil erosion, etc., and possible impacts such as decreased land value, water quality, redesign of infrastructures and seasonal tourism.
The participants agreed to have more discussions and extend the dialogue to the communities as a means of public education.
They also agreed that research is crucial, accurate data is needed, information has to be shared, better community planning is required and suggested practices at the regional and community levels have to be implemented.
