Paul Cereghino’s Post

WWU College of the Environment's Geography and GIS students are always up to amazing things! I am so proud to have been the adviser for our GIS Major Finley Bell's honors thesis project in which he mapped previously unknown areas of legacy forests (late-successional, approaching, but not yet at, old growth status) in Whatcom County. This is crucial work for informing timber harvest policies on our Department of Natural Resource lands. You can learn about his work in this StoryMap. #WWUGeography #WWU #Geography #Forests

We are launching a new project with the Haliburton Highlands Land Trust! Starting in early 2025, we are partnering with the Haliburton Highlands Land Trust on an innovative wetland classification project using our soon-to-be-released ecoClassify #SyncroSim package. The project will apply machine learning methods to map wetlands in Haliburton County (Ontario, Canada) using diverse data sources including aerial imagery, digital elevation models, and water flow rates. We are also collaborating with local partners to ground-truth the classifier. This initiative will enhance our understanding of local wetlands by contributing valuable data for conservation efforts. We will share more details as they come in. #Conservation #Wetlands #MachineLearning

Learn more about the ~30-year history of the National Land Cover Database (NLCD). I like the phrase "You've come a long way baby!" https://lnkd.in/gC8Rvreb

💡 Wondering how governments are using the data collected in partnership with PLACE? 👉 Jasen Hodge (Leslie), Director of Lands and Surveys, Government of Anguilla was interviewed last week on the work of the department and how they use imagery to advance disaster management, planning and moving to a new land title system in the country. Hear how #PLACEdata, along with Esri GIS software and Landfolio is being used to create one of the most advanced land departments in the Caribbean and leading to job creation in the nation.   “We can calculate – based on the imagery – because it gives us the contour, the elevations, the structures. And we can leverage AI technology to calculate which area might flood during a hurricane or storm surge. How many people and how many houses are going to be affected? And we can use the image to determine the roof type – so the disaster team can now respond more efficiently.” Leslie Hodge #ThisisPLACE #PLACETrust #DisasterManagement #DigitalTransformation #IslandNations #AI4Good #Techforgood https://lnkd.in/eMp-r87f

By visualizing the hopscotch-like interplay between wildfires and urban landscapes, it captures the complex dynamics of WUI fires and offers insight into the primary mechanisms for fire spread.

https://lnkd.in/gMb4HBBB A grim but important topic - examining Los Angeles wildfires with interactive maps, real time data feeds, and GIS. With hearts full for all those involved in mitigation, emergency response, and helping families.

Examining the current wildfire situation in Los Angeles using ArcGIS Online and the Living Atlas of the World - https://lnkd.in/gQdABqNH with a focus on teaching and learning, but helping students also to understand and consider that these same GIS tools are used for mitigation and emergency response efforts. With a heavy heart for all those affected and positive energy to all who are helping.

Happy to share our recently published article: A spatiotemporal analysis of ungulate-vehicle collision hotspots in response to road construction and re-alignment. https://lnkd.in/gaSCJFV8

A Texas-Sized Coastal Restoration Effort: Did you know the USACE Galveston District dredges 30 to 40 million cubic yards a year from federally maintained navigation channels in Texas alone? That’s enough material to create a mountain 14,000 feet high if placed on one city block, which is over 11,000 feet taller than Guadalupe Peak, the highest point in Texas. That’s a lot of dredged material removed from the coastal system, that can be used for beach and dune nourishment, bird islands, oyster habitat creation, marsh restoration, and other habitat restoration projects. We’ve launched our beta Geographic Information System (GIS) website for the Beneficial Use of Dredged Material Master Plan on the Texas coast. Here, Beneficial Use Advisory Groups from all four regions of the Texas coast can submit their projects for review and consideration on our new inquiry form: https://hubs.la/Q02M3LCg0 You can also explore project sites and data effortlessly with our user-friendly interactive GIS Map: https://hubs.la/Q02M3LCg0 We have already had our first round of collaborative meetings that included public input and beneficial use initiative updates from Ducks Unlimited, the US Army Corps of Engineers, and the Texas Department of Transportation. Join us in the goal of making beneficial use work long-term to promote habitat creation and restoration along the Texas coast. Discover our evolving website here: https://hubs.la/Q02M3LCg0 #TexasCoast #AnchorQEA #BeneficialUse #Dredging

The Shortest River in the U.S.: Learn about Roe River in Montana, stretching only 201 feet. #geography