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Northwest Washington GIS User Group Agenda

June 24, 2005

Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve

New Conference Room, 10441 BayView-Edison Road

9:00 - 9:45 Round Table

9:45 - 10:00 Break

10:00 - 10:30 Allison Bailey, Sound GIS

    -Examples of marine GIS projects on the west coast: comparing regional to coastwide scales.

10:30 - 11:00 Jessemine Fung, CommEn Space

    -Nearshore analysis around the Sound.

11:00 - 11:30 Ross Freeman, American Rivers

    -Using 3D GIS visualization to portray dam removal in WA.

    (more info below)

11:30 - 12:00 Wrap-up and tour of new GIS facility

Driving Instructions:

Take Interstate 5 North or South to exit 230, just north of Mount Vernon.

Take Highway 20 West toward Anacortes about 6 miles.

Turn right at stop light onto Bay View-Edison Road (Farm House Inn

Restaurant is at this intersection).

Drive north about five miles, past Bay View State Park.

The Breazeale Interpretive Center will be on your right, ¼ mile past the state park.

Meeting notices are sent by e-mail and snail mail. If you

wish to change how you receive yours, or to add or change an address,

please send a note to geneh@cc.wwu.edu or to Gene Hoerauf, Huxley College,

MS 9085, WWU, Bellingham, WA 98225

Using 3D GIS visualization to portray dam removal in WA

The restoration of river ecosystems can become contentious and

polarizing: residents in an area faced with river management decisions may

have a deep-rooted concern about large-scale landscape change, and fear of

the unknown. People are often unsure what the impacts of restoration

would look like, and what the consequences could be for their communities.

Helping citizens and elected officials visualize the future is critical to

the success of such significant projects. On the Elwha River, the nation’s

largest ever dam removal will begin in 2008 when the Glines Canyon (210ft

tall) and Elwha (108ft) dams are removed for salmon recovery and ecosystem

restoration. Using an extension of ArcView, we’ve created 3-D

photo-realistic visualizations depicting the landscape before, during, and

after dam removal. Orthophotography and satellite imagery are draped over

a DEM, and enhanced with features of local significance such as natural

landmarks, buildings, and riparian terrain. We believe this represents

the software’s first use to portray infrastructure deconstruction coupled

with environmental restoration. At ‘town hall’ meetings, local citizens

can navigate through, or fly over, various sites before and after

deconstruction in real-time, and personally explore changes to the

natural, recreational, or urban riverfronts they are familiar with.

Ross Freeman works for the NW Regional Office of American Rivers, a

national conservation group. His duties include scientific comment on

management plans, conservation policy, grassroots outreach, and GIS work.