A combination of aerial and terrestrial LIDAR are being used to monitor forests in the research work conducted by Monika Moskal, professor at the University of Washington and director of the Remote Sensing & Geospatial Analysis Laboratory. The detailed modeling of forests in the Pacific Northwest are being used for a variety of purposes, including the close study of the riparian forest/water interface and function for the suitability and sustainability of salmon habitat.

Moskal, spoke this week at the ILMF conference about the unique and well-suited contributions of LIDAR for forest study. She emphasized the repeatability of LIDAR measurements for ongoing observations that far exceeded the accuracy of field observation as well as the ability to observe large areas. The high-resolution forest modeling is proving superior for modeling Leaf Area Index or the roughness of the forest canopy as well as dbh for the size of tree trunks. Armed with this data, foresters can determine wood supply potential, forest fire potential, and better understand the forest/water intersection.

The ongoing study of the riparian areas extends beyond the suitability of habitat toward the ecosystem services of the forest for quality drinking water. Water is seen one of the leading potential marketplaces according to Ecosystem Marketplace, and in order to begin trading on the services that the forests provide for greater water quality, we will need to fine tune our means to model and monitor this valuable service.

Louisiana Senator David Vitter wants to stop the Federal Emergency Management Agency from updating flood maps in areas where levees have been found deficient. The senator would like to see a phased levee certification fix that would allow repairs prior to mapping in order to avoid steep insurance hikes that would hamper redevelopment.

The sticking point seems to be the need for local dollars to fix the problems, with a federal entity that is pointing out the risks.

Today the Department of Interior launched the WaterSMART initiative with a press conference and geospatial presentation. The SMART part of the WaterSMART initiative stands for “Sustain and Manage America’s Resources for Tomorrow”. The president’s proposed budget includes $72.9 million for the WaterSMART program, which is a total increase of $36.4 million over 2010.

A big part of the WaterSMART is for the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Water Census, which will be conducted for the first time in 30 years. There will also be funds through the Bureau of Reclamation to study entire river basins.

The press presentation for this policy announcement took place in the Department of Interior’s high-tech operations center at their headquarters. The initiative was launched with a geospatial presentation on water supply and demand as a means of providing background regarding the need for such a program.

The new initiative gets a kickoff with a workshop that begins tomorrow with the seven Colorado River Basin States. Among the agenda items is a discussion of the anticipated 20% reduction in water flow due to climate change.

Grist Magazine has an opinion piece that suggests that conservation efforts would prove to be a popular stimulus for the economy that would provide jobs and lasting impacts. The idea is for good hands-on work restoring forests, rivers, wetlands peat bogs and praries as well as investing in expanding the National Parks system. The jobs that could benefit are soil scientists, equipment operators, water engineers, tree planters, park rangers and other park personnel.

The thinking is that this type of job goes mostly toward labor, because there aren’t high material costs in the kinds of work that needs doings. It’s mostly physical work. And, the restoration of ecosystem services would lead to better biodiversity and would help mitigate against climate change.

I find this to be an intriguing idea, but I worry that those without jobs that are used to desk work may not find this kind of work appealing.

NASA has funded an interdisciplinary research project at the University of Florida that will study the relationship between climate variability and land use and land cover change. The study will use remote sensing and socio-economic surveys to create models to guide communities in adapting to climate change.

The research will include field projects in southern Africa (Botswana, Namibia and Zambia) to address the variability in climate in light of extended drought. The project will address variability of the timing and amount of rainfall and resulting human suffering.

“We hope the grant allows us to better understand the social-ecological systems response to climate variability and so to allow us to develop understanding for future climate scenarios,” said geography professor Jane Southworth, the principal investigator. “Ideally, it will allow for better adaptation strategies for local communities under changing environmental conditions.”

The following YouTube video summarizes the challenge in this region:

More details on the grant and the research project called “Adaptive Management: Water, Wetlands and Watersheds” or AM:W3 can be found here.

Now that COP 15 is over, with one of the only commitments made toward Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD), the move is on to map and monitor forests. GIS has long played a role in forest measuring, assessment, monitoring, planning and management. With the embrace of REDD by the international community, and the commitment of such heavy technology hitters as ESRI and Google to the task at hand, 2010 is shaping up as a watershed year for geospatial technology adoption.

Just think of all the developing countries that will receive a geospatial jump-start through their preparations for REDD. With the foundation of their forestry assessment and monitoring systems in place, they then can begin to apply these tools to biodiversity and conservation goals as well as the improvement of the lives of citizens through analysis of social, economic and environmental factors.

There is a growing awareness of the role that GIS and remote sensing will play in adapting to climate change. Here’s a nice story from Fortune Magazine writer Marc Gunther that illustrates the kind of coverage that GIS can expect to garner in the coming year.

The forest preservation compensation program called Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) is nearing approval at the climate conference in Copenhagen. The deal compensates countries for preserving their forests, placing a value on the service of forests and other open lands in absorbing carbon dioxide, the key warming gas. Most points of contention in the agreement on REDD have been worked out, and an announcement is expected late this week.

This development will likely mean a huge boost for the use of GIS for forest assessment and monitoring, and it’s good news for resource managers around the world.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is working with tea growers in Assam and West Bengal to apply remote sensing and GIS for better tea yields. The project would help growers determine sites suitable for planting new crops, and would also assist with water resource mapping.

Read more about the tea project via Connect India.

Researchers at the National Center for Earth-Surface Dynamics (NCED) at the University of Minnesota have developed a virtual stream computer model called Virtual StreamLab to help restore streams to a healthier and more natural state. Virtual StreamLab demonstrates the physics of natural water flows at an unprecedented level of detail and realism.

The researchers believe that the ability to simulate water flow over topography with this degree of realism will provide the insights necessary to improve sustainable stream restoration strategies, help in optimizing techniques to fight erosion, help prevent flooding and restore aquatic habitats in degraded waterways. According to the national data available to the researchers, 44 percent of the nation’s 3.5 million miles of rivers and streams have become degraded due to sedimentation and excess nutrients. This decline has led to impaired water quality over entire watersheds, rendering many streams unhealthy for recreation and public contact. These effects also have serious consequences for the health of aquatic life. Efforts to restore these bodies of water have resulted in an annual cost of more than $1 billion in the United States alone.

NCED is a NSF Science and Technology Center where scientists from previously disparate fields such as geomorphology, engineering, and ecology are working together to understand how biota and ecosystems are linked to landscapes and hydrology, providing predictive insights into how important ecosystem services such as salmon spawning and water quality are linked to each other and to the landscape.

Tim Berners-Lee announced the launch of the World Wide Web Foundation’s global operations yesterday. This foundation is an international project to advance the use of the Web as a means to empower people to bring about positive change. One of the initial projects of the Foundation is the Web Alliance for Regreening Africa (W4RA).

W4RA will work to create a Web-based platform for farmers to share local information about growing plants and food in harsh African environments. The initial project will take place in Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali, with three full years of funding. The intent is to add other countries and even other continents. Central to the plan is the thought that significant acceleration of the sharing of information will lead to agricultural success.

This is just one of many project for the new World Wide Web Foundation that is motivated by three challenges:

• the Content Gap
• the Research Gap
• the Technology Gap