Development of GIS-based Maps for the “Top 10″ Invasive Weeds in Crook County, Oregon
…from the Western Wildland Environment Threat Assessment Center, US Forest Service…
“Crook County is a rapidly developing county located in central Oregon covering 2,991 mi2. The county’s economy is driven by agriculture, forestry, rangeland management, and industrial activity. The county’s geographic location, climate, geology, land uses, transportation network and multiple off-highway recreational attractions make it susceptible to noxious weeds.
“Federal, state, and local agencies have all had a hand in monitoring and combating the spread of noxious weeds, but until this project a single publicly accessible point of access for this data and its spatial mapping by geographic information system (GIS) had not occurred. Additionally the five surrounding counties had not communicated on a broad scale about the noxious weed problems in their jurisdictions; therefore part of our project was to develop contacts within these counties and map any available data.
“The project couples GIS, remote sensing, field sampling, field validation of likely weed spread models, and GPS photographic techniques to continue updating the presence, absence and spread of noxious weeds in Crook County using a statistically viable and repeatable methodology.”
