Cleanup at Shevlin January 18, 2009
Posted by bahadirkhan in English, Haber (News).Tags: geographic information systems, GPS devices, timber industry popularized GIS
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Storms left a mess of the popular park, and crews dont know when it will reopen. But the area has become a classroom for COCC”s forestry and other students as they help survey the damage.
When Paul Stell first visited Shevlin Park after the windstorm that swept through Central Oregon on New Year’s Day, the sight was both awe-inspiring and familiar.
Stell, the natural resources manager for the Bend Metro Park and Recreation District, said it looked like a giant game of pickup sticks — hundreds and hundreds of bent and broken trees, some piled three and four deep, some flattened across roads and picnic tables, and still others upright but leaning precariously against their neighbors. And the more Stell looked, the more he found.
Citing safety concerns, the park district closed the popular 650-acre park along Tumalo Creek on Jan. 2. The cleanup is still in its early stages, and officials don’t know when the park will reopen.
But for students in the forestry and geographic information systems programs at Central Oregon Community College, the damage at Shevlin Park is an opportunity.
Associate professor Ron Boldenow said the programs have long used the park as a classroom, with students using GPS devices to map Tumalo Creek, the trails or the picnic benches. Boldenow was planning on doing the same this year, but when classes resumed Jan. 4, the park was closed.
He contacted Stell to see if there was some way he could get his students into the park.
“I called Paul, and he said, ‘I don’t mind, if you’re careful,’” Boldenow recalled. “I asked, ‘Do you need any help?’ And he just said, ‘Oh, my.’” (more…)
Feds employ GIS for ice storm cleanup January 18, 2009
Posted by bahadirkhan in English, Haber (News).Tags: December ice storm, GIS mapping
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Westford’s request for federal reimbursement for costs sustained by the December ice storm was approved by Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on Friday, according to Town Manager Jodi Ross.
“We are so pleased by this and thankful that our local, state and federal officials listened to our plea for assistance, and acted swiftly to reconsider and approve our request. Of course this affects our surrounding communities as well and we are pleased that they also received the assistance that they requested,” Ross said.
Westford has submitted just under $650,000 of expenses related to this storm, according to Ross. Many have already been incurred, and about half are related to debris cleanup.
“There is a process where we meet with MEMA/FEMA officials and complete a series of applications and forms. We are reimbursed over a period of time as we incur the costs. They told us it takes between 30-60 days to get moving and receiving reimbursement,” she said.
Earlier in the week, Ross said more than 70 officials from area towns attended a meeting on Wednesday at the J.V. Fletcher Library to discuss reimbursement issues.
“We presented a slide show of damages to our communities, the power outages and the emergency responses from Westford. We did that through GIS mapping. Then we heard from MEMA and FEMA officials who described the process, gave an update of where we were and why we were disqualified,” Ross said.
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