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Remote Sensing in State Forestry Organizations

Massachusetts

1. Organizational Approach to GIT: The Massachusetts Division of Forest & Parks' Bureau of Forestry (http://www.magnet.state.ma.us/dem/programs/forestry/index.htm) uses GIT in a limited capacity, but is hampered in its use of the technology by limitations in staffing. The Division is part of the Department of Environmental Management (DEM), an agency of the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs (EOEA).Neither the Bureau or the Division have a dedicated employee for GIT or GIS. Accordingly, such work is accomplished by staff with other roles and academic resources at the University of Massachusetts where the Bureau's Management Forestry Program and informal lead for GIT is physically located in Amherst. DEM has a dedicated GIS coordinator and some additional staff working with GIS, though they primarily address non-forestry matters.

2. GIT Applications and Data Utilized: While the Division has limited internal staffing for GIT, it is used for applications such as land management, forest health, insect and disease monitoring, wildlife habitat inventory, wildlife and vegetation monitoring, fire inventory and behavior prediction, multiple resource and recreation management, ecosystem planning silvicultural activity, road maintenance prioritization and tracking, and various mapping needs. Wildland fire, land acquisition and conservation prioritization and planning (forest legacy) and urban forestry are particular growth application areas. In particular, the Division uses conventional 1:12,000 CIR imagery, as well as 1:5,000 orthophotos when available in ArcView and Trimble Pathfinder Office formats. DEM, along with custom flights, is the source of the Division's geographic data. Extensive field level data is also available for use with GIS and to evaluate the accruacy of remote sensing.

3. Linkages with Statewide GIT Coordinators and Others: There are several users of GIT in other divisions of DEM and other EOEA departments. EOEA also has been the institutional home of a GIS center known as MassGIS since the mid 1980s. MassGIS has traditionally served as the focal point for GIT expertise and data in EOEA. MassGIS recently was designated by state statute to be the statewide lead for GIT, and its director now serves as the official state GIT coordinator. MassGIS operates a data clearinghouse (http://www.state.ma.us/mgis/massgis.htm) and has various efforts underway to increase collection and interpretation of data. The Executive Office of Administration and Finance's (EOAF) Information Technology Division (ITD) also assists in statewide GIT coordination, including helping facilitate the Massachusetts Geographic Information Council (MGIC). In addition to these activities, a forest resources assessment and forest vision for the state, including determination of the viability of forestry, is under development using remote sensing by the Massachusetts Extension Forester.