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Mission & Goals providing information about the environment through benefits-driven R&D, data acquisition, and academic programs
Goals
The goal of the Upper Midwest Aerospace Consortium (UMAC) is to provide information
about the environment that enables people to make decisions improving their:
Beneficiaries
The primary source of the information is data acquired by satellites and aircraft.
Beneficiaries of the information include:
Partnership Every UMAC activity is in response to a need expressed by individuals
or organizations of stakeholders. The Consortium is distributed geographically
to bring information close to its end users. UMAC includes partners in government,
private industry, and non-governmental organizations as well.
Precision Agriculture using information technologies to bring data from multiple sources to bear on crop and livestock production decisions
"Noxious weeds are the biggest economic, ecological, and environmental threat to Western rangeland. They reduce rangeland productivity, increase soil erosion, and decrease wildlife habitat." Roger SheleyMontana State Extension Agent Noxious Weed Eradication from Rangelands The weed leafy spurge, scourge
of the West, can be detected by sensors that see light in many separate
colors. The exact pattern in the light signals is different for leafy
spurge than it is for grass and other welcome vegetation. Pinpointing
its existence
from satellites and aircraft is the first step toward eradicating the
weed.
Disease Scouting for Sugar Beet Producers In the valley straddling the Red River between North Dakota and Minnesota exists a billion-dollar sugar
beet industry. Diseases that cripple beet production can be spotted by
airborne sensors detecting radiation the eye cannot see before the disease
(e.g. the fungus, rhizoctonia) is visible to a farmer.
In the dry year of 1998, farmers in the browned-out area destroyed their hopeless crop and collected crop insurance. "...seeing these images showed us the broad picture and gave us a great deal of optimism when it comes to satellite images...there may be a vast amount of knowledge we can apply to our management decisions." Carl & Janice MattsonMontana Farmers Fertilizer Applications for Wheat Farmers In years of adequate rainfall, a wheat crop is limited when nutrients in the soil are exhausted. Soil
nutrients can be supplemented by applying nitrogen fertilizer. In years
when not enough rain falls, lack of moisture limits the crop; additional
fertilizer will not turn a bad crop into a good one, but the chemicals
applied unnecessarily will run off into streams or be released to the
atmosphere. By monitoring a wheat crop's growth from a satellite, a farmer
can determine whether to add fertilizer during the growing season.
Sustainable Forestry balancing timber extraction and replacement rates for long-term economic and environmental health
Fire Danger Index Like a fever in a sick person, trees and plants trying to draw water from dry soil have elevated temperatures. Using satellites to read vegetative temperature and to estimate how much of it is being stressed, scientists can highlight tinder-dry areas and land managers can take fire-preventive actions.
Education for Responsible Stewardship teaching each generation to leave the world a better place than they found it
If you plan for a year, plant rice. If you plan for 10 years, plant trees. If you plan for 100 years, educate your children. Chinese ProverbK-12 Teacher Education
Teachers and teacher educators are providing
and receiving training at statewide workshops in ways to integrate
geographical information into school curricula. Highlights of the new
approach include:
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