#Invasive Species Mapping in Harpswell, Maine


###Project Background
The [Harpswell Coastal Academy](www.harpswellcoastalacademy.org) is collaborating with the [Harpswell Heritage Land Trust](http://hhltmaine.org/) and the [Town of Harpswell ](www.harpswell.maine.gov/‎
) in efforts to detect and map emerging invasive flora and fauna in the form of Asiatic Bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus) and the [European Green Crab ](http://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/aquatics/greencrab.shtml)(_ Carcinus maenas _) from high impact areas.  
 The Harpswell Community Makerspace will work closely with all parties to develop tools and capabilities that help facilitate project goals.

###Purpose of this Wiki
This purpose of this wiki will be to facilitate a constructive dialog between the Civic Hacking/Maker community (including Makerspace members and the larger community) and the local project partners.
Links and descriptions of related research notes will be continuously added and edited until such a point when a subpage will be created.

### Makerspace Goals

  * Work closely with students and faculty of Harpswell Coastal Academy to integrate development activities into existing curriculum
  * Engage the collective expertise of the greater Civic Hacker/Maker Community and provide proper attribution
  * Engage the knowledge of the local community 
  * Emphasize project documentation in a manner that
        
      - builds on existing open source research (where possible)
      - recognizes the contributions of earlier participants
      - Allows for iterative development in the future
      - Can be easily utilized as interpretive materials for community outreach


###General Project Goals
 **Assessing the impact of eradicating Asiatic Bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus) in test plots**

 * Identify a site for experimental and control plots.
 * Identify parameters to collect baseline data on. 
 * Possibilities include:
    - Species richness of native plants, before and after eradication.
    - Percent coverage of native plants, before and after eradication.
    - Animal observations (e.g. woodcock)


 * Collect baseline data April-Spring 2014

 * Present baseline data at HCA symposium June 2014

** Mapping emergent invasive flora on public lands in Harpswell
**

  * Identify 2-3 properties for mapping effort

  * Survey properties for species
 
  * Identify 2-4 emergent species of concern. 
         
  * Determine optimal time for detecting and quantifying each species
           
  * Develop interpretive materials to help volunteers identify species in the field and in their own properties
           
### Potential Resources
 Existing projects on publiclab.org and elsewhere can be listed here in order to assess their potential usefullness for the Invasive Species Project.

  *** [Grassroots Mapping](http://publiclab.org/wiki/balloon-mapping)** including aerial imaging techniques through the use of cameras mounted on weather balloons or kites and the post-processing software
  *** [RHUUS](http://publiclab.org/notes/deepwinter/6-5-2012/rhus-open-source-mobile-gis-community-ecology)** Open Source GIS Software for Community Ecology Projects
  ***[Infragram](http://publiclab.org/wiki/near-infrared-camera)**- Ecological Monitoring through the use of Modified Infrared Cameras