Level of Gvt: State
Function: Library
Problem/situation: Years of copper mining and smelting activities in Montana caused residue to leak into ground waters, requiring intensive clean-up procedures.
Solution: A GIS database was created so that agencies could share information and avoid duplication of cleanup services.
Jurisdiction: Montana.
Vendors: ESRI, Atlantic Richfield Corp.
Contact: NRIS's e-mail address is f.gifford@nris.msl.mt.gov
The Worldwide Web Server address is http:\\nris.msl.mt.gov
Bill McGarigle
Special to Government Technology
When the federal Environmental Protection Agency was charged with oversight of the largest Superfund cleanup in the nation, it asked the Montana State Library, in 1987, to develop a geographic information system (GIS) to support the project. Subsequent agreements led to probably the most comprehensive GIS facility in any state library.
Years of copper mining and smelting activities in Montana had produced tailings (residue) laced with heavy metals that leached into rivers and ground waters along 120 miles of the Clark Fork River, from Butte to Missoula. The scope of the project and complexity of the information needed by the many agencies, contractors and citizens' organizations involved in the cleanup required the type of data only GIS could provide.
The library was an appropriate choice. It had a Natural Resource Information System (NRIS), a program created by the state Legislature to make data and information on Montana's natural resources easily and readily accessible. The program operates as a clearinghouse and a referral service that links users with data resources. Its aims are to eliminate unnecessary duplication through information sharing. Most of the data on natural resources are provided by the Natural Heritage Program and the Water Information System, both components of the NRIS.
Another point in favor of the library was its historical impartiality. Since environmental issues often generate adversarial situations, a GIS service under the auspices of the library would provide data and services to all parties, without bias or advocacy. What was needed were GIS tools, programmer-analysts and coordinators who transform that information into formats required by Superfund participants.
Subsequently, in 1987, a GIS section was added to the NRIS Program. Its primary aim was to support the Clark Fork Superfund sites by providing GIS products and services.
Recalling the startup of the operation, NRIS Director Allan Cox said, "When I came, there was nothing but a signed contract with Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI), of Redlands, Calif., to supply a turn-key system - no staff, no hardware - I had a borrowed table and a trash can."
FUNDING
The GIS component of NRIS was initially funded by an interagency agreement with the Montana State Department of Health (MSDH) through Superfund. Atlantic Richfield Corporation (ARCO), the responsible party for the cleanup, now underwrites much of the cost of the GIS work. Funds come from ARCO to the MSDH, which subcontracts with NRIS to provide GIS services. Altogether, interagency agreements make up about 80 percent of the funding. The other 20 percent comes from a State Resource Indemnity Trust Fund.
According to Cox, the GIS program is heavily dependent on interagency agreements, such as those with the U.S. Forest Service, the Montana State Historic Preservation Office, Department of State Lands and Department of Agriculture. "Almost all the natural resource agencies have some contract with us to provide specific GIS services. At times, there are grants thrown in - grants from EPA, [and] a recent grant from the Federal Geographic Data Committee for the NSDI (National Spatial Data Information) development."
FACILITIES AND SERVICES
The NRIS GIS section now has ArcInfo and ArcView software, a staff of five programmer-analysts and a coordinator. "We focused on the Superfund project exclusively for about two years, until we were pretty confident of our ability, then opened up to take on a lot of new projects," Cox said. Today, the section provides consulting and spatial analysis, cartographic and database design, maps, and data acquisition and coordination for all parties involved in the Superfund sites.
NRIS also supports federal and state agencies with cartographic information on water-quality assessment, timber management, wildlife habitat research, facility management, emergency and transportation planning, soil analysis, census and legislative apportionment. In addition, it assists other agencies, and public and academic libraries with GIS services and training.
NRIS also provides GIS products and services to students, schools and colleges. "We have a few initial projects going with high schools," said GIS Coordinator Fred Gifford. "We've helped them acquire sample data sets and ArcView software from ESRI. High schools are just getting started with this technology. But we regularly have college students coming in for data sets or maps. One graduate student, working on his master's in hydrogeology, brings in data that he collects on his own. We convert that into a GIS database. Then he uses our computers and ArcView to design his own maps and reports."
Individuals who primarily want to view GIS databases using the less formidable ArcView have access to computers in the library. The service is free. Patrons can access any information that has been made public. "Anybody can come in and sit down at either a PC or a UNIX workstation and do whatever they want with ArcInfo or ArcView," Cox said.
THE INTERNET CONNECTION
Users can also access NRIS GIS data via the Information Highway. They can "grab" a file from NRIS's anonymous FTP (file transfer protocol) site. FTP is a UNIX server on the Internet and functions somewhat like a bulletin board without menus.
When a data set is to be transferred to a client with Internet capabilities, NRIS will put the file into the FTP site instead of cutting a tape or a disk.
NRIS often accesses USGS databases through the Internet, specifically, hydrography layers, water information, and digital elevation models. They also use data created by the U.S Census Bureau and the Bureau of Mines, and data created by state agencies as part of their regulatory mandates.
BENEFITS
"The Superfund remains to this day our single largest GIS project," Cox explained. "Although it is now one of a dozen that we do, it was the one that got us started. We realized that it would be a good project for the state to get its feet wet, to gain experience and develop expertise in GIS, and develop data that could then be shared. That's been our basic model and philosophy ever since. We undertake interagency agreements and contracts to gain something for the state."
Cox believes participants in the Superfund project have been well-served by the library's brokering role. "We help bring together parties involved in GIS projects who may have difficulty getting together. Under the umbrella of the library, they're on neutral ground. They have a place, both physically and conceptually, where they can meet and work together through us. There's a real, inherent trust in libraries, and we have worked very hard to maintain that."
According to Cox, the NRIS GIS program has resulted in considerable cost-savings to users. "In the last two and a half years, we served over 150 individuals on the Superfund project alone, filled over 3,000 requests for service, and delivered more than 8,000 copies of maps. Had a private contractor or a federal or state agency been running the system, you still would have all that need. But with the feds going to the feds, Arco going to their contractors, the state going to the state or to more contractors, all using duplicate data sets, [it would end up] costing significantly more dollars."
Gifford estimates the data component of a GIS project to be about 80 percent of the total cost. "In many cases, the high cost of data acquisition makes it unfeasible to use. Many databases in our system cost several hundred thousand dollars to create. If we can get some or all of that for free, then we significantly reduce the barriers to the use of GIS technology for many people."
Internal programs also benefit from the GIS. The Natural Heritage Program now uses GIS to provide maps for reports, formulate searches of their databases for occurrences of rare and endangered plants, and perform quality assessment of their own data. The Water System uses GIS to help manage a broad range of information on well logs, gauging stations and water data storage. An example, Cox said, "is someone asking where all the domestic wells are in a particular township, and how deep each had to be drilled to hit water. We can show them a map and interpolate the depths at which those wells hit. We're also producing a groundwater atlas with a grant from the EPA. It will be published as a paper product as well as a hypertext media document on Internet."
FUTURE DIRECTIONS
As Cox sees it, NRIS is moving more toward the role of clearinghouse, with less emphasis on specific projects. "We're trying to increase our emphasis on coordination and clearinghouse activities, particularly as they relate to the national spatial data infrastructure, and work more with agencies in developing common standards. But we still believe we need to keep our hand in doing projects because it's through them that we gain the real experience we share."
