Abstract
High-precision land-cover-land-use GIS mapping was performed in four major townships in Maine’s Aroostook River Valley, using on-screen digitization and direct interpretation of very high spatial resolution satellite multispectral imagery (15–60 cm) and high spatial resolution LiDAR data (2 m) and the field mapping method. The project not only provides the first-ever high-precision land-use maps for northern Maine, but it also yields accurate hectarage estimates of different land-use types, in particular grassland, defined as fallow land, pasture, and hay field. This enables analysis of potential land availability and suitability for grass biomass production and other sustainable land uses. The results show that the total area of fallow land in the four towns is 7594 hectares, which accounts for 25% of total open land, and that fallow plots equal to or over four hectares in size total 4870, or 16% of open land. Union overlay analysis, using the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) soil data, indicates that only a very small percentage of grassland (4.9%) is on “poorly-drained” or “very-poorly-drained” soils, and that most grassland (85%) falls into the “farmland of state importance” or “prime farmland” categories, as determined by NRCS. It is concluded that Maine’s Aroostook River Valley has an ample base of suitable, underutilized land for producing grass biomass.
Highlights
The Aroostook River Valley in Maine, the United States, spans central Aroostook County and is the most populated and agricultural region in northern Maine, with four principal cities and towns: PresqueIsle, Caribou, Fort Fairfield, and Easton (Figure 1)
After the mapping project was completed for each township, the digital land-use GIS data and printed land-use maps were immediately shared with our stakeholders, such as the Northern Maine Development Commission, the Maine Farm Bureau, local town offices, and land management agencies
The combined hectarage of fallow-1 and fallow-2 is 7594, which accounts for 25% of the total open lands in the four townships
Summary
The Aroostook River Valley in Maine, the United States, spans central Aroostook County and is the most populated and agricultural region in northern Maine, with four principal cities and towns: PresqueIsle, Caribou, Fort Fairfield, and Easton (Figure 1). The Aroostook River Valley in Maine, the United States, spans central Aroostook County and is the most populated and agricultural region in northern Maine, with four principal cities and towns: Presque. The region has been forested since the end of the last Ice Age and was inhabited by Native Americans until its lumber attracted European settlers during the 18th century. With more settlements in the early 19th century, farming became more important in the region—it was initially dominated by small-grain crops such as oats and wheat and by potatoes. The settlers found that, unlike the marginal soils covering most of New England, the geologically distinct (the area is mostly underlain by limestone), well-drained, fertile loam soils, along with the cool northern climate and abundant annual precipitation, were perfect for growing potatoes on a large scale. The decade of the 1870s was a major turning point in the agriculture of Aroostook River Valley, when the arrival of rail tracks stimulated Aroostook’s development into a “Potato Empire” [1]
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