NATIVEVIEW:
A Gateway to the Earth for Native Americans
Kenneth
D. Bailey and Robert C. Frohn
Introduction
NativeView is a project by Native American Remote Sensing Incorporated
(NARSINC) with help from the University of Cincinnati to
develop a national geospatial database for the development
of land-use management strategies in American Indian reservations
of the United States. NativeView will leverage existing USGS,
USDA and BIA data sources, and Landsat-7 image data to provide
tribal planners and leaders the basic tools needed to begin
planning for the future of their communities. Agriculture
is the second largest employer next to tribal governments
of American Indian communities. A national database of potential
agriculture for Native Tribes will provide a baseline for
development strategies to boost the local agricultural economies.
All map products will be placed on a server dedicated to this project called NativeView. NativeView will store all raw Landsat-7 image products and value-added data products created by NARSINC and allow access to these products by Tribal Governments over the Internet. Access to NativeView will be password protected and restricted to tribal planners and leaders on a reservation. Sharing of data between reservations will be determined at the discretion of local tribal authoriies. A simple browse and point-and-click interface will be designed to use a basemap of Indian reservations to access all map products. NativeView will provide a baseline for implementation of effective local strategies for land and resource management by native tribes.
Approach
A database for development of land use management strategies
requires integration of a number of data sources including
existing land use, soils, hydrography, and remote sensing.
Existing USGS USDA, and BIA databases will be integrated
with analysis of Landsat-7 data for American Indian reservations
of the United States. All areas identified as Indian Reservations
on the USGS Federal and Indians Land Map (equal or greater
than 640 acres) will be included in the database compilation.
An overlay of a Landsat Path/Row map with a Federal and Indian
Lands map determined that 90 L-7 scenes would be required
to map all reservations larger than 640 acres. Additional
federally recognized reservations smaller than 640 acres
will be included as point coverages in the database and their
areas will be analyzed in a future phase of this project.
Existing Databases
For initial baseline mapping for the potential land use analysis,
we will integrate several existing databases including:
Landsat-7
Landsat-7 data will be employed in this project for analysis
and development of a Landsat-7 image database for Native
Americans. Landsat-7 data can be used to complement the NLCC
data for more site-specific analysis of current land use
and resource base on Native American reservations. Landsat-7
data will also be useful in analyzing crop health and yield
trends on Indian reservations. In addition, the 15 meter
panchromatic channel can be merged with the multispectral
data in mapping reservation infrastructure and road development
(both potential and current).
We are currently conducting a pilot project for the Leech Lake Reservation in Minnesota to demonstrate the utility of Landsat-7 and the NativeView database. Value-added products are being developed from these images to create a database used for managing agriculture including evaluating crop types, crop health, crop yields, and agricultural suitability. Various datasets will be used to finally create a potential land use map for the entire reservation. We are seeking funds from the federal government to initiate the NativeView project on a national scale. We are also seeking cooperation from other reservations throughout the country interested in using GIS and remote sensing in managing their resources and becoming a pilot or model reservation.
Commercial Satellite Data
In the near future, we will be seeking federal support for a commercial remote
sensing databuy for Native Americans. Fine resolution remote sensing data
such as IKONOS can provide valuable information to an existing NativeView
database especially for infrastructure mapping and precision farming.
Potential Land Use
Our potential land use delineation will consider environmental, economic, cultural,
and social aspects of Indian reservations. Since agriculture is the second
largest employer on Indian reservations, agriculture is the primary potential
land use that we will analyze. However, we will consider an array of other
land uses available to Native Americans to increase economic opportunities.
The development of a national potential land use database will provide a tool for effective local strategies for land and resource management by native tribes on a nationwide level. Potential funding of pilot studies to include more reservations and continued government support for a national effort is critical in order to create useful, manageable, data products for all Native American Reservations and make them accessible to Native Americans throughout the United States.
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