When the Land Tells a Story: Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for Landscape Monitoring and Humanitarian Relief:Innovations Case Discussion: Pingree Easement

Abstract

their entire jurisdiction using three key technologies: geographic information systems (GIS), remote sensing (RS), and global positioning systems (GPS). The novelty in the case lies neither in the technology nor the application, but rather in the management setting where the innovation took place. As Jim Levitt wrote, the size of the easement, the “largest conservation easement project ever realized in the course of American history,” carried with it the significant challenge of tracking landscape changes due to “human population pressures and attendant disruptive environmental impacts” while wisely investing monetary resources in these technologies and human resources. As is true with national parks, designating lands for protection and developing a set of permissible uses is only the start; managers must then find the resources to monitor and enforce those uses. With a finite, albeit robust, budget and personnel who could not always be present, the New England Forestry Foundation (NEFF) distributed a call for proposals to experts in the field of landscape monitoring. Each group that replied to NEFF employed some aspect of GIS/RS in its plan to monitor and track changes to the landscape of the Pingree forest. Given the Randall B. Kemp and Sanjeev Khagram