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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:navy'>Not
really in my line of work, but the site seems to be well put together. Reports
are good by ‘MRLC Zone’ or by ‘State/County’. You can also download data. Best
I can tell it’s an ArcGIS Server solution, I can see some properties showing
ArcGIS REST paths. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:navy'>Here
is the link if it does not come through in the article. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:navy'><a href="http://lc.gapanalysisprogram.com/landcoverviewer/Default.aspx">http://lc.gapanalysisprogram.com/landcoverviewer/Default.aspx</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:navy'>A
small distraction for all of us not attending the ESRI UC this year. Look at
all the natural land cover you helped preserved by not going!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:navy'>Chris<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div>
</DIV>
<DIV><BR><BR></DIV>
<DIV STYLE="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New"><EM><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE="2">The Department of Environmental Protection values your feedback as a customer. DEP Secretary Michael W. Sole is committed to continuously assessing and improving the level and quality of services provided to you. Please take a few minutes to comment on the quality of service you received. Simply click on <A HREF="http://survey.dep.state.fl.us/?refemail=Chris.P.Moore@dep.state.fl.us" TARGET="_blank">this link to the DEP Customer Survey</A>. Thank you in advance for completing the survey.</FONT></EM></DIV>
<DIV STYLE="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New"><EM><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE="2"></FONT></EM></DIV>
<DIV STYLE="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New">
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>
chris.p.moore@dep.state.fl.us [mailto:chris.p.moore@dep.state.fl.us] <br>
<b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, July 14, 2010 1:37 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> Moore, Chris P.<br>
<b>Subject:</b> From Greenwire -- CONSERVATION: USGS produces first interactive
map of U.S. land cover<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><a href="http://www.greenwire.com" title=Greenwire><span style='color:#990000;
text-decoration:none'><img alt=Greenwire border=0 height=65 id="_x0000_i1025" src="http://www.eenews.net/email_assets/images/gw_banner.jpg" width=530></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
</div>
<div style='border:none;border-bottom:solid #999999 1.5pt;padding:0in 0in 2.0pt 0in'>
<p align=right class=MsoNormal style='text-align:right'><b><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#666666;text-transform:uppercase'>An
E&E Publishing Service <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
</div>
<div>
<div style='border:none;border-bottom:solid #92AB7F 1.5pt;padding:0in 0in 8.0pt 0in'>
<h3 style='line-height:15.0pt'><span class=slg><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>CONSERVATION:</span></span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'> USGS
produces first interactive map of U.S. land cover </span><span class=origin1><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>(Wednesday,
July 14, 2010)</span></span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></h3>
<h5 style='line-height:15.0pt'><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:black'>Laura Petersen, E&E reporter<o:p></o:p></span></h5>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:11.25pt;margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:15.0pt'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>Decades
of mapping, advances in satellite imagery and a dedication to scientific
decisionmaking has resulted in the first comprehensive, <a href="http://www.gap.uidaho.edu/landcoverviewer.html"><b><span style='color:#990000'>interactive land cover map</span></b></a> of the United
States.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:11.25pt;margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:15.0pt'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>"It's
the best imagery we have right now, the best characterization of land cover
that exists as far as I know," said John Mosesso, manager of the Gap
Analysis Program (GAP), a project of the U.S. Geological Survey that created
the map.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:11.25pt;margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:15.0pt'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>The map
depicts the extent of forests, grasslands, wetlands and other habitats from
coast to coast. USGS has made it searchable by state and region at three
different levels of detail using eight, 43 or 590 classification categories.
That means a user can view the map as broadly as forest or shrubland, or as
specifically as Mediterranean California Lower Montane Black Oak-Conifer
Forest and Woodland.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:11.25pt;margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:15.0pt'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>And it
is available for anyone with computer access.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:11.25pt;margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:15.0pt'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>"It
doesn't do much good to have data sitting somewhere where people can't get at
it," Mosesso said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:11.25pt;margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:15.0pt'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>The
habitat information can be combined with maps of species distribution and
protected areas to see where there are conservation holes. While this can be
used for endangered species, GAP's motto is "Keeping common species
common." USGS makes no specific recommendations, but the hope is that
resources managers will use this information to proactively fill in
conservation gaps before habitats are fragmented by development and wildlife
pushed toward extinction.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:11.25pt;margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:15.0pt'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>But to
do that accurately and effectively, managers need the baseline data these
maps provide. "It's vitally important for scientific decisionmakers and
resource managers to have a clear understanding of exactly what they are
dealing with," Mosesso said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:11.25pt;margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:15.0pt'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>In the
past, decisionmakers relied on information observers collected based on where
they had been and happened to have seen. Now, satellite imagery provides a
systematic snapshot of the entire country.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:11.25pt;margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:15.0pt'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>"It
creates a framework to monitor changes over time," said Rob McDonald, a
conservation scientist with the Nature Conservancy. "That's a really
powerful thing for conservation."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:11.25pt;margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:15.0pt'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>USGS has
been working on this multimillion-dollar map for most of a decade, attacking
large regions at a time. Prices for satellite images have come down
dramatically in the past 20 years, enabling the mapping team to purchase
images for much of the United States. Instead of government agencies pooling
resources to buy just one image per site, USGS could afford three images per
location to capture seasonal variation, which increases accuracy in
categorizing habitats, said Kevin Gergely, GAP's national program
coordinator.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:11.25pt;margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:15.0pt'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>The
satellite images are not like the street-view photographs in Google maps;
they are numerical values expressing how much light is reflected from the
surface of the Earth. To translate those numbers into corresponding habitat
categories, scientists from USGS and partner organizations spent hours in the
field recording on-the-ground conditions. Surveyors matched the field samples
with the satellite numbers, and trained computer models to convert the
reflection values into tangible land cover categories like forest, grassland,
wetland, human use and so on.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:11.25pt;margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:15.0pt'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>Once
this process was completed for the Southwest, Northwest, Southeast and
California by 2009, surveyors had enough consistent data to combine with the
Forest Service's Land Fire database and, <i>voilà</i>, they had pieced
together the first complete national land cover map.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:11.25pt;margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:15.0pt'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>The map
is 1:100,000 resolution, which is less detailed than a 1:24,000 topography
map. It cannot tell viewers how many trees are in a forest, but it can
identify the dominant tree species. A broad brush stroke is important for
large-scale planning at agencies like the federal Bureau of Land Management or
state departments of fish and game. The map helps them see where large tracts
of diverse ecosystems still exist so they can work to preserve whole
habitats, rather than just single species.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:11.25pt;margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:15.0pt'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>"We'll
never map or have knowledge of where every species is," McDonald said.
"A coarse filter helps you protect species you don't know or even think
about."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:11.25pt;margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:15.0pt'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>USGS
scientists may publish findings based on the map in a peer-reviewed journal,
Gergely said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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