Coastal Land Cover Partnership Also Benefits Forests and Birds

The Takeaway: Digital Coast and U.S. Forest Service collaboration produces better product at lower cost.

It’s about saving money and making a better product. NOAA’s Digital Coast and the U.S. Forest Service collaborated to make a Guam land cover data and mapping product that serves both forestry and coastal management needs. This product provides more detail, at a lower cost, than two separate efforts would have produced.

Guam’s Coastal Zone Management Program uses the data to learn more about development and potential stressors within the watershed, and staff biologists for private-sector firms use it to save time and effort on ecological and environmental impact studies.

The enhanced vegetation maps enable Guam’s Division of Aquatic and Wildlife Resources to learn more about native birds’ nesting and foraging habits, while boosting efforts to preserve native birds, currently in decline, that scatter the seeds critical to forest health. This mapping product also aids Colorado State University and Andersen Air Force Base as they work together to save the Micronesian starling population. (2017)

Partners: U.S Forest Service Pacific Southwest Region, NOAA’s Digital Coast