The fauna and flora of the Pribilof Islands, Alaska, are unique and include many taxa restricted to the central Bering Sea region. The islands, which includes St. George and St. Paul Island, have undergone substantial ecological change this past century through a combination of anthropogenic resource use and climate-mediated alterations to both ocean and terrestrial ecosystems. These islands and their natural resources are managed by Alaska Native Village Corporations (include the list here), the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. An assessment of land cover types is needed for the islands to 1) help these land owners better understand the status and therefore manage the islands’ unique fauna and flora, and 2) serve as a baseline to measure future changes in land cover and associated natural resource abundance.
We are seeking a contractor to classify and digitally map the current land cover types of the Pribilof Islands, Alaska, using the highest resolution, cloud-free satellite imagery currently available to the public or through the Aleutian and Bering Sea Islands Landscape Conservation Cooperative (
https://www.fws.gov/science/catalog). The classification and map should be 1) developed and measured for accuracy using on-the-ground observations of plant communities and terrain, and 2) of equal or higher resolution (thematically and spatially) to a land cover classification and digital map recently completed for the St. Matthew Island group (M. Fleming, unpublished data).
Project leader name and contact: Mike Fleming, 907-345-2072
Lead organization: Images Unlimited
Award ID: 140F0719P0087
Funding Source: FWS
Amount: $15,000
Start Date: 10/01/2019
End Date: 9/30/2020
