Client: GSRC
Completion Date: N/A
Gulf Engineers & Consultants, Inc. was a subcontractor on a Department of the Army project to research the practicability of using GIS to model the occurrence of hillside seepage bogs at Ft. Polk, Louisiana. Military regulations define these bogs as fragile ecosystems which cannot be disturbed by training activities due to the rare flora they support. This type of bog only occurs in Vernon Parish, Louisiana and presents a major obstacle for military officials managing the training at Ft. Polk. ArcGIS and ArcPad were used to conduct a pilot study on 1,000 acres at Ft. Polk. Data gathered during this study coupled with ESRI technology, allowed for the creation of a spatial predictability model for hillside seepage bogs. Results from the pilot study were positive enough to employ the model on the entire base (over 100,000 acres) mapping probability of bog occurrence in support of the military mission. Model output reduced the potential survey effort by more than 60%; eliminating the need to survey certain areas, reducing survey effort in others and focusing survey efforts in high probability areas.
