Browsing by Subject "Geospatial"

Now showing 1 - 8 of 8

Open Access
Conserving the Cape Fear River Basin: A Watershed-Scale Parcel Prioritization
(2023-04-28) Bruns, Andrea; Elias, Claire
The Cape Fear River Basin (CFRB) spans over 9,000 square miles of North Carolina’s Piedmont and Coastal Plains, supporting a rapidly increasing human population and extensive agricultural operations. However, its communities and ecosystems are increasingly vulnerable to joint hydrological impacts of land use change, population growth, and climate change. Flooding and drought have become more frequent and extreme while polluted waters and riparian habitat fragmentation reduce biodiversity. The Nature Conservancy’s North Carolina Water Program (TNC) implements conservation and restoration projects to attenuate these threats. We streamlined project selection by using geospatial analysis to rank land parcels by their promotion of four objectives: 1. ecological resilience, 2. biodiversity, 3. social resilience to flooding, and 4. water quality. We adapted our geospatial analysis into a tool that TNC can use to rank parcels, isolate objectives, or alter their influence using a flexible weighting scheme.
Open Access
Ecological and Financial Suitability of Sites for Long-Term Oak Management in Western North Carolina
(2021-04-30) Scott, Michael
For thousands of years, oak species have been the dominant canopy species in eastern and central United States hardwood forests. Oaks (Quercus spp.) provide myriad ecological services and arguably comprise the most valuable hardwood timber genus in the eastern US. In recent decades, however, research shows that oaks are declining in density and being outcompeted by fast growing species like yellow poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) and red maple (Acer rubrum). Due to oak fire tolerance, and ability to withstand droughts and poor soil conditions, Quercus promises to be a vital genus for climate resiliency. Western North Carolina has historically supported expansive oak dominated forests, and organizations are now concerned about protecting this valuable ecosystem. This project sought to identify land in western North Carolina that is ecologically and financially suitable for oak management and to understand the following questions: 1) Where is oak management ecologically viable? 2) What is the financial potential for oak management? 3) Where can loggers access timber? This was accomplished by conducting a survey and literature review about logger accessibility in the mountains, creating an oak management prioritization map and GIS tool using logger data and oak ecological requirements, and a financial analysis of the profitability of oak silviculture prescriptions. The results will help The Nature Conservancy (TNC) identify high priority areas to initiate oak management systems. With careful planning, oak management can be financially viable in western North Carolina.
Open Access
Environmental Features Relevant to Deep-Sea Mining along the Rio Grande Rise for the Implementation of Protected Areas
(2017-04-28) Smith, Austin
Interest in the extraction of mineral resources from the deep-sea has increased rapidly in the recent years due to technological advancements. Since 2001, the International Seabed Authority has granted over 25 exploration leases for deep-sea mining in oceanic Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction. These areas are often poorly studied and thus it is currently a challenge to develop effective regulations before mining activities commence. This study attempts to address this issue by exploring the environmental characteristics found in an emergent area of deep-sea mining exploration, the Rio Grande Rise (RGR) off the Southeastern coast of Brazil. This is accomplished through the compilation and mapping of environmental datasets for the RGR region as well as a biogeographic classification of the RGR seafloor based on several datasets that are known to influence deep-sea biodiversity. The goal of this study is to identify areas and features within this region that are important for regulators to consider as mining regulations and protected areas are developed in the near future.
Open Access
Improving IP-based geo-location through Internet Topology and Geospatial Datasets
(2013) Moses, Kyle Vincent
Accurate IP geo-location is crucial to the effectiveness of a wide array of Internet-based services ranging from targeted advertising and website localization to content delivery, security logging and authentication. The most widely used technique for remote IP geo-location is to passively query a pre-built database mapping IP blocks to physical locations. Recent analysis of commercially available databases has revealed limited global coverage and limited accuracy below the country level.
In this work, we first present a new form of geo-location technique which cross-references Regional Internet Registry (RIR) entries with topology information derived from Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) routing data. Second, we present a Hadoop integrated PATRICIA tree designed to store this dataset. Finally, we present a system for accurately and efficiently mapping location strings to representative alpha-shape polygons.
Our experiments show that cross-referencing RIR entries with topology information allows for improvements in location accuracy below the country level in comparison with traditional databases. Furthermore, we show that use of a PATRICIA tree provides maximum storage efficiency with minimal performance impact. Finally, we show that representing locations as alpha shapes provides a high level of accuracy with minimal performance overhead.
Open Access
Linking Forest Restoration to Sustainable Value Chains with se.plan
(2023-04-28) Caradine, Reed; Ezekiel, Micah; Piacsek, Gabriel; Wang, Meixin
Stumpage prices for timber can be low due to lack of demand for wood products, which threatens the sustainability of tree-growing projects. Prices can increase with more investment in local wood processing facilities and related infrastructure – the links in the value chain that would increase timber demand. se.plan, a geospatial tool built by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Forestry Division, helps investors find suitable locations for reforestation projects in emerging markets, but it does not have the capability to help find locations for wood processing facilities. Using Uganda as a case study, we augment the capabilities of se.plan and provide geospatial data to build a wood processing facility siting capability into the tool. To determine decision-making factors relevant to investments in reforestation and wood processing, we conducted a literature review and focus groups, and then we found and modified geospatial datasets relevant to those factors. We made recommendations on how FAO can incorporate the datasets into se.plan.
Open Access
Mapping the Gaps: Using GIS to Target Environmental Education Efforts
(2014-04-23) Sunu, Sarah G.
Evaluating the effect of environmental education is critical for measuring changes in community attitudes and behaviors, but to date little attention has been paid to the spatial distribution of environmental education programs. Mapping communities that are participating in environmental education programming can inform the decision-making process for program development and expansion, and help organizations identify un-served and underserved communities. Incorporating census data allows organizations to also identify communities meeting certain demographic criteria, such as environmental justice communities, for potential programming. The New England Ocean Science Education Collaborative (NEOSEC) is a network of fifty-four environmental education organizations with the common goal of improving ocean literacy. To facilitate that goal and identify gaps in programming reach, the spatial impacts of 18 NEOSEC member organizations were mapped into a geodatabase and paired with a model to identify target audiences. The completed geodatabase and model provide proof-of-concept tools for mapping the spatial reach of environmental education organizations. NEOSEC members and other environmental education organizations should consider mapping spatial impacts as a key component of program management and development.
Open Access
MCMC Sampling Geospatial Partitions for Linear Models
(2021) Wyse, Evan T
Geospatial statistical approaches must frequently confront the problem of correctlypartitioning a group of geographical sub-units, such as counties, states, or precincts,into larger blocks which share information. Since the space of potential partitions isquite large, sophisticated approaches are required, particularly when this partitioninginteracts with other parts of a larger model, as is frequent with Bayesian inference.Authors such as Balocchi et al. (2021) provide stochastic search algorithms whichprovide certain theoretical guarantees about this partition in the context of Bayesianmodel averaging. We borrow tools from Herschlag et al. (2020) to examine a potentialapproach to sampling these clusters efficiently using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo(MCMC) approach.
Open Access
Physical and Program Options for the Inland Migration of Louisiana's Coastal Wetlands in Response to Relative Sea Level Rise
(2012-04-26) Pardo, Sam; Beck, Heidi; Bihler, Alicia; Kemm, Melissa; Perron, Douglas
Louisiana contains over a third of the coastal wetlands in the contiguous U.S., but has seen a drastic reduction in total wetland area in the last century. This loss is especially troubling for coastal Louisiana where wetlands play a vital role in protecting and supporting the state’s economy and culture. Under natural conditions, coastal wetlands will move upland with rising sea level or sinking land. However, engineered structures and shore armoring, such as levees, seawalls, and bulkheads, impede this process. Advanced planning for wetland migration is needed to keep communities and infrastructure out of harm’s way from encroaching open water and to mitigate future wetland loss. This project investigates the potential for wetland migration in Louisiana through 1) the mapping and analysis of coastal wetland migration and 2) an examination of policy alternatives relevant to wetland migration. Wetland loss and migration were analyzed in Lafourche, St. Mary, and Vermilion parishes using the Sea Level Affecting Marshes Model. Moderate and less optimistic values of subsidence rates were modeled with constant global sea level rise projections to identify the impacts of dike and levee protection on wetland loss and the upland migration of coastal wetlands. The percent of wetland loss offset by wetland migration was calculated for each parish in an effort to aid in management decisions. It was found that wetland migration into dry land areas did not occur in any of the three parishes unless dike and levee protection of undeveloped dry lands was removed. The intensity of subsidence and the distribution of dry land greatly impact the overall benefits of allowing coastal wetlands to migrate into dry lands. This observation was exemplified in Lafourche Parish, which has a limited distribution of dry land and was modeled using higher subsidence rates than those found in both St. Mary and Vermilion parishes. Not only was the net loss of wetlands greater when dike and levee protection was removed in Lafourche Parish, but the total amount of wetland gain by means of wetland migration was incapable of offsetting a significant amount wetland loss. The policy analysis was developed with consideration for the framework of Louisiana’s Comprehensive Master Plan for a Sustainable Coast. An exploratory model was created to assist coastal managers and stakeholders in policy decisions regarding the migration of wetlands along Louisiana’s coastline. The model was constructed using five main criteria and six different policy alternatives. Policy criteria included wetland migration, flood risk, equity, adaptability, and political feasibility, and the policy alternatives assessed were rolling easements, density restrictions, transferable development rights, conservation easements, defeasible estates and voluntary acquisition. Applying the policy model in scenarios where dike and levee protection is removed reveals that rolling easements would only be appropriate in Vermillion or St. Mary parishes where potential for wetland migration is high. In Lafourche parish, where potential for wetland migration is low, an emphasis on minimizing flood risk suggests that transferable development rights would be the best alternative to pursue. Applying the policy model in areas where dikes and levees are present also favors transferable development rights as the optimal policy alternative. Moreover, this final demonstration suggests that a wetland migration policy can serve to address the CPRA priority of minimizing “induced risk,” while also adapting to changes in flood protection planning.