The Impact of Land Use Patterns and Watershed Characteristics on China Lake, Kennebec County, Maine

China Lake is located in Kennebec County, Maine. Since 1983 the lake has suffered from yearly algal blooms as a result of the addition of excess nutrients. The nutrient load was amplified by erosion within the watershed. Erosion varies widely depending on a number of factors, including the slope of the land, the type of soil, and the way the land is being used. Certain land use types have a high potential to add nutrients to the environment, while others may help absorb excess nutrients and prevent erosion and runoff into the lake. A comprehensive examination of the China Lake watershed was completed using GIS to calculate the erosion potential for the entire area, taking into account past and present land use patterns. This information will help the towns around the lake to make informed decisions about future development and land management.

A Visibility Analysis of the Cape Wind Project

Cape Wind has proposed a wind farm of 130 turbines on Horseshoe Shoal in the center of Nantucket Sound. A prominent concern about the project is the impact the visibility of the turbines will have on the region's tourism industry and property values. It is feared that their presence will diminish the value of the pristine coastline that has attracted vacationers to Cape Cod for generations. In this project, we assess the extent to which Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket will be visually affected by the wind farm. It was completed using a Viewshed Analysis in the GIS program, ArcMap, from the surface, mean, and maximum height of the towers. These Viewsheds were combined to give a comprehensive perspective of which areas are able to see the highest percent of the wind farm. Finally, a weighted land use value was applied to the Viewshed to account for the impact of land use on the ability to see the project. The objective of this analysis is to provide a visual representation of how great an influence the wind farm will in fact have on Cape Cod.

Prioritizing Land Purchases for the Belgrade Regional Conservation Alliance

The Belgrade Regional Conservation Alliance is an organization that is dedicated to preserving land and water quality in the Belgrade Lakes region in Maine. The BRCA holds land in such towns as Belgrade, Mount Vernon, New Sharon, Vienna, Rome, Smithfield, and Oakland. The BRCA is looking to expand its acreage in and around these areas to better accommodate the public and to promote the ongoing effort to conserve land as part of the Kennebec Highlands Project. The BRCA is currently considering parcels of 50+ acres in New Sharon, Rome, Belgrade, and Mount Vernon. In order to identify possible suitable parcels, we completed a GIS analysis and produced these layered maps, which highlight areas of land that we think might be desirable to the BRCA. Our analysis encompasses human access, wildlife access, and the locations and sizes of parcels.

Viewshed Analysis of the Lands of Belgrade Regional Conservation Alliance

The Belgrade Regional Conservation Alliance (BRCA) has acquired a great deal of land in the Belgrade Lakes region of Maine and is currently in negotiations on many pieces of land throughout the area. Data available online from the Maine Office of GIS, and data from the BRCA were used to carry out this analysis. One area of interest is Mount Phillip, the summit of which the BRCA recently acquired. There is a good view to the south of the mountain, but the potential view to the east and north is in question. This study analyzed the view from the top of the mountain, focusing on two landmarks: Mosher Hill to the east, and North Pond to the north. The analysis shows that both Mosher Hill and North Pond can be seen well from Mount Phillip. These results could help the BRCA both by adding weight to their negotiations to protect Mosher Hill, as well as influencing their decision whether or not to thin part of the forest on Mount Phillip to open up the view of North Pond that is currently blocked.

Estimated Number and Location of Future Moose-Vehicle Collisions (MVC) in Maine

Moose (Alces alces) are a keystone herbivore in Maine. Because of the large number of rural roads in Maine, there is a high rate of moose-vehicle collisions (MVCs), which is increasing. On-road encounters with animals resulted in 231 fatalities in the United States in 1999. Because of the fatality of MVCs, it is important to know where they are most likely to occur. I used GIS analysis to estimate where future MVCs would occur, factoring in the variables of land cover suitability for moose, distance from water bodies, locations of past MVCs, and speed limits on the roads. I ran four different analyses, each one weighting the variables equally. I also ran a regression to determine if increasing road speed was associated with the increase in the number of MVCs per length of road. There was not a strong positive relationship between the number of MVCs per length of road and the speed limit, but it was interesting to note that there were more MVCs per length of road on 35mph and 40mph roads than on 45, 50, 55 or 65mph roads. Future research on MVCs would benefit from the inclusion of include moose population density and road traffic data.