GSS Sends Staff Back to Alaska for Fieldwork

It was another busy summer of ongoing wetland mapping fieldwork in Alaska for GSS! We had a number of staff working in Alaska this July, including a group that spent three weeks in the Bristol Bay region of Southwest Alaska. This year's project area consists of work being completed with partners from the Bristol Bay Native Corporation (BBNC), the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and the Bureau of Land Management. Each contract includes a field component for verifying computer-based GIS mapping work, so that wetland data created in the office is compared to actual landscapes, rather than relying solely on the satellite imagery used in the work.

This year’s team was led by Andy Robertson and Eric Lindquist, who spent over 20 days in the vast landscapes of Alaska. The team also included GIS Technicians Ben Moonen and Nicole Murto. The teams worked out of King Salmon, Port Alsworth, and Dillingham respectively. The fieldwork was similar to past years, in that the team completed data collection and data comparisons utilizing helicopters, cameras, soil and vegetation sampling, and more. This work will continue for nearly two more years and will employ numerous staff and students!