Hi
everyone,
Sorry if you get
duplicates of this, just trying to cover all the bases.
I wanted to update
you on the status of the "Lidar for New England" project, phase I (which
actually includes a bit of New York too).
On Wednesday, 10/27,
USGS announced the availability of ARRA funding for lidar and orthophoto
development. There is $5.85M available for lidar and $2.925M for
orthophotos. Since that time, the states have been in contact with each
other and have agreed to go forward with a regional proposal, pending the
ability to use a federal contracting vehicle. We are hopeful that we can
use the USGS contract, but if not NOAA has offered theirs for this
project.
The states are busy
looking for matching funds to help make our proposal more appealing, and
soliciting letters of support to accompany the proposal. If you can
contribute financially contact either your state coordinator (listed below) or
me. Likewise if you'd be willing to offer a letter of support (and we
haven't already approached you), please contact your state coordinator or
me.
The states hope to
have an answer to the USGS contract question by Nov 13, and we hope to have
financial commitments by then (and preferably letters of support as well, though
those could trickle in until Nov 20). At that point we will know precisely
how much money we have and how much to ask for and begin drafting the
proposal. We anticipate a level of funding less than what was in the
concept proposal, but USGS is also asking for a lesser set of products, so the
geographic extent may not be impacted that much. We have requests out to
two lidar providers for estimates on the current USGS spec, so that we have a
better estimate of what the cost per square mile will be.
Deadline for
submission is December 1.
If you can provide
either financial support, or a letter of support, and we haven't already
contacted you, please get in touch with your state coordinator or
me.
VT: David Brotzman
[log in to unmask] (note that phase I is
coastal and thus VT is not included, but longer-term we are looking at all of
New England)
**********
Michael Smith
State GIS Manager
Maine
Office of GIS