Satellite Imaging to Aid Collection of Forest Data
12/17/97
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Headline: Satellite Imaging to Aid Collection of Forest Data
Source: Bangor Daily News (BANGOR, MAINE)
Date: 12/17/97
Copyright 1997 Bangor Daily News
Byline: Susan Young of the NEWS Staff
HEADLINE: NASA, UM to work together
Satellite imaging to aid collection of forest data
ORONO -- The University of Maine has teamed up with NASA on a
project that has the potential to improve forestry management
practices in the heavily timbered state.
Rep. John Baldacci joined university officials at a press
conference Tuesday to announce that the Orono campus had received a
$ 750,000 grant from the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration for the satellite imaging project.
The university and space agency will use new satellites to
produce detailed digital images of the state. The pictures will be
as detailed as aerial photographs but, because they are digital,
can be fed directly into a computer so they can be analyzed. One
new satellite can see through the clouds so data now will be easier
to collect.
The images will help identify what species of trees or other
plants are growing in a given plot and whether they are suffering
from disease or insect damage. Cutting of trees also could be
detected.
Steven Sader, the UM forestry professor who oversees the
project, said there has been no talk of using the satellite images
to enforce state timber harvesting laws. But, he said, the
technology could be used for that purpose if the state determines
it is having a hard time checking compliance with the laws on the
ground and needs a better way to monitor for violations.
If the University of Maine had received the grant a few months
earlier, it might have changed the tenor, if not the outcome, of
this fall's forestry debate which ended in the defeat of the
Compact, a management plan endorsed by Gov. Angus King and much of
the paper industry.
"This information was screamed for during the lastforestry
debate," David Edson, vice president for forestry and natural
resources at the James W. Sewall Co., said in an interview.
The information would have provided voters with facts, rather
than politicized misinformation on which to base their decisions,
Edson said. For example, people would have had hard numbers about
how much land is clear-cut rather than relying on the governor's or
Green Party's competing claims.
The Sewall Co., which conducts forest inventories, is keeping a
close eye on the project because the Old Town firm ultimately will
use in its work the information gathered by the satellites and
analyzed by UM. The company also hires at least a dozen UM
graduates a year so it is pleased to see that students will be
getting firsthand experience with emerging technologies, said David
Sewall, the company's president.
Baldacci said he heard about the use of satellite imaging to
detect diseased plants in vineyards in California and he thought
the same technology could be used in Maine's forests. Using the
technology could lead to less pesticide use, he added.
"With this season and this setting, it feels like our program
is receiving a nice Christmas present -- and we are," said
Professor Sader of UM's forest management department. A tree
festooned with lights and ornaments stood a few feet away.
Sader will oversee the project which will be funded by NASA for
three years. The grant will allow his department to buy new
equipment and will cover the expenses of several graduate and
undergraduate students who will be involved in the project.
Sader said the information gathered will be made available to
state agencies and private companies.
He said he was pleased that companies, such as Sewall, will be
using the information here in Maine so UM graduates can stay in the
state for employment which uses the skills they gained at the
university.
Earlier this year, UM was named a "Center of Excellence" by
NASA and the agency has been working closely with the Orono campus
on several projects. There are about 60 NASA Centers of Excellence
around the country.
Shireen I. Parsons
Boone, North Carolina
USA