Summary, West Point, April 20, 1999 Present: Rob Sparks, Highlands Iron Conservancy/West Milford Planning Dept.; Maria DuBois, Passaic River Coalition; Walt Daniels, NY-NJ Trail Conference; Doug Schleifer, Upper Raritan Watershed Assoc.; Francie Schuster, Black Rock Forest Consortium, Kelly Pew, West Point; John Gebhards, Sterling Forest Partnership; Bob Rockermann, NYS DEC, Region 3, New Paltz; Robert Pirani, Regional Planning Assoc.; Christian Michel, RPA; Laura Flynn, TNC; Catherine Coleman, West Point.

Catherine Coleman presided as Chair for the meeting calling the meeting to order at 1:30 pm at West Point. Catherine and Kelly Pew of the West Point ITM program served as hosts for the meeting.

I. Highlands to Ocean Project (H2O) Rob Pirani and Christian Michel of the Regional Planning Assoc. discussed the almost completed Highlands to Ocean Project. It is funded primarily by Dodge Foundation. There is a need for greater awareness about water quality in the area between the Hudson Highlands and the Atlantic Ocean. This database will be available for all to use. Rob sees this as the beginning of a process that will continue to collect data and become more accurate. This is a concerted effort of the Regional Planning Coalition which is 30 companies from the NY metropolitan area. It is not a purely academic endeavor. There is a political agenda also. The proto type for this came from Larry Orman, Ex. Dir of a Bay Area, Cal. non-profit org. that wanted to make "Pretty good GIS for very good causes" because there was an immediate political need for data and maps. There are a series of 3 maps: The intention is for the maps to show a clear message, to be simple and direct. 1. H2O - The Watershed. The underlying natural features and urbanization overlay and its changes over time. The urban data is from USGS urban development from 1928 - 1990. 2. Harbor - The tidal flows. NYC and NJ. Shows the habitat restoration, recreational and natural elements. 3. Highlands - This map shows the integral resources next door to urbanization. For example, one layer highlights the water resources. The Data: Data is from various sources. PA data ares from their Web site; NJ’s from DEP; CT’s from their Web site and CTRPP. NY data are from each County and watersheds are from DEP. The main topics of the data are: water resources, recreation, open space, and forests. The water quality data layer are not very informative yet, but most of the other layers are good. RPA plans to join the NY State Data Sharing Cooperative - www.IRM.STATE.NY.US. In addition, ARC Explorer and Microsoft have softwares that non-GIS people can use to call up this data, print it and read it for their projects.

II. NY State Data Sharing Cooperative - www.IRM.STATE.NY.US A newsletter, contract and flyer were passed out to those present. There are two classes of data on the system: free data and meta-data. Much of the meta-data is incomplete. Some agencies have no meta-data. DOT data is available but, you must be a member to get it. Much new data have been released recently. Only non-profit or state agencies may join and Vermont, NJ and other agencies have done so. For-profit organizations may only join if under contract with a non-profit or state agency. Announced on the Web site for NY GIS COOP: contact Terry Remillard at tremi@oft.state.NY.US. phone: 518-473-5622. For metadata training: http://NYSGIS.NYSED.GOV/GIS. The highlands GIS site is: http://www.nynjtc.org/highgis.

III. GIS Issues Water Quality and Classification: There is a need for water quality and water classification data. The classification system that exists is unreliable and inconsistent. The data that does exist needs to be consolidated and mapped. Doug Schleifer is beginning a 3 year project in the Raritan Basin in NJ. He is addressing these very problems and has some very interesting solutions coming to light. All parameters are being measured, such as, quality, quantity, classification, non-point pollution, etc. There is a question as to how to define quality. Perhaps the Clean Water Act guidelines are the best guide. Doug mentioned that NEMO (Non pt education for Municipal Officials) is using a model that ties the land use to water quality. This model is being used on the Raritan Basin project. West Point brought their new MR SIDD of West Point to the meeting. MR SIDD is a compressed file of data generated from aerial photos. It has contours, DEMs, Tiffs, etc. compressed in one file rather than the numerous files West Point had to work with initially. The level of detail is impressive, yet there are still problems with presentation. John Gebhards handed out The Sterling Messenger newsletter and an invitation to the upcoming public meeting concerning the fate of Sterling Forest. Also handed out was the Geographic Information Systems Technology News the newsletter of the New York State GIS Coordination Program.