Since 2014, GeoInquiries™ have been used to integrate ArcGIS Online technology to support subject matter content teaching. Lessons include learning objectives, technical “how-to’s”, textbook references, and formative whole-class assessment items – all packed into one page. These activities are technology agnostic and can be delivered in a classroom with as little as a tablet and a projector. Any teacher can use a GeoInquiry, regardless of their prior experience with digital mapping tools. 

They are free, Creative Commons licensed activities that do not require any logins or special software beyond an internet browser. For questions or concerns, email geoinquiries@esri.com.

TOWN OF ULSTER, N.Y. — Ulster County officials are determined to find a suitable landfill location in an effort to have the first new municipal solid waste disposal dump approved by the state since 2004.

State Department of Environmental Conservation public information officer Jomo Miller on Monday noted that the Ava Landfill in Boonville in Oneida County was the last disposal site approved with a permit issued on March 22, 2004. He noted that if the county chooses to reopen the former Hertel site in Plattekill or select another location, the process would undergo significant planning.

“An application to open a landfill adjacent to a closed landfill would be treated as a new landfill application,” he wrote. “A new landfill would need to meet the site requirements of DEC’s solid waste management facility regulations 6 NYCRR Part 360 and Part 363 and would need to go through the process of obtaining any necessary permits.”

Ulster County Resource Recovery Agency officials on Jan. 5, 2022, were given a report by HydroQuest that identified two sites in Plattekill as the only suitable locations for landfills but had withheld the locations until the past month. Some details of the 29-page study that includes 16 maps have been shared by former agency officials but current administrators have withheld the report from the public as well as the county Legislature, which for several years has been pressing for a review to be conducted.

Former agency Chairwoman Katherine Beinkafner said the primary option in the report lists the former Hertel Landfill, a 73.9-acre Superfund cleanup location off of U.S. Route 44. Included is a recommendation to purchase the 166.2-acre vacant parcel that adjoins the east and front of Tuckers Corners Road. She noted that as a professional hydrologist, her work has previously included studies of contamination at the site.

“I’ve actually been there many times,” she said. “It’s right down the road from my house and I worked on it just reviewing it for the town of Plattekill.”

The second Plattekill site listed in the report is multiple parcels immediately south of Camp Sunset Road, north of Foster Road, and east along Plattekill Ardonia Road, running alongside the Central Hudson power lines. The three parcels proposed include 95 acres owned by the Orchard Project LLC, 153.7 acres owned by MPZ Holding Corporation, and 53 acres owned by Mohegan Avenue Corporation.

“(This) one I thought might be better for waste-to-energy because it’s on a power line,” Beinkafner said.

Information in the HydroQuest report was provided in two Resource Recovery Agency requests amounting to $11,000 and submitted to officials on Jan. 5, 2022.

The agency has not responded to a state Freedom of Information request for the documents and it has been so quiet that county Legislature Chairwoman Tracey Bartels was not provided a copy despite efforts for several years to have a study conducted to demonstrate that Resource Recovery Agency officials are serious about solving the very expensive solid waste disposal problem.

“That’s pretty critically important information,” she said.

“I did not know (about the recommendations) because I haven’t seen the study,” said Bartels, a non-enrolled legislator from Gardiner who aligns with Democrats. “I am fully vested in the siting of a local or regional landfill. We need to do that and we need to downsize our solid waste.”

County lawmakers are also considering the use of the Hertel site as a solar field, but during a meeting last week, they were not told that trash agency officials had been given the HydroQuest report.

Agency Executive Director Greg Ollivier, who was hired in October, said he doesn’t take the study seriously and had not read sections that identified the recommended locations because he plans to commission a “comprehensive” review.

HydroQuest owner Paul Rubin, who has worked with the state Department of Environmental Conservation and state Attorney General on landfill investigations, on Tuesday objected to the dismissive attitude taken by Ollivier. While declining to provide a copy of the report, he said the information should be available to the public and especially to lawmakers who are trying to make decisions about finding a disposal location.

“I did a pretty detailed assessment here and this is not a cursory thing,” he said. “There was (agency) input on criteria…They were absolutely onboard 100%. They paid me to do it. They used GIS technology and the fact that I’ve lived in Ulster County for half my life (means) I know the geology, and they should read it first before they start commenting.”

Rubin’s previous work with the state Attorney General’s office overlapped with part of the investigation done by former U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey, who while a state assemblyman issued the 1986 report on “Organized Crime’s Involvement in the Waste Hauling Industry,” which used the Hertel landfill as an example of how crimes were committed in the solid waste dumping industry.

“In addition to household garbage, the (Hertel) landfill accepted liquid industrial wastes,” the report states. “On one inspection, Ulster County Health Department personnel found 20 to 30 barrels of an oily sludge material and dyes stacked next to the wetland. The barrels were poorly sealed, some were broken and crushed.”

The report added that by 1975 there were “waste oils and printing ink … dumped directly into the freshwater wetlands and the headwaters of Black Creek, a popular fishing place and part of the groundwater system that provides drinking water for families living in Plattekill and Highland.”

There were also threats made to Plattekill residents by associates of hauler Joseph Fiorillo Jr., who the reports stated was using the site despite court orders and a revoked permit.

“There were reports at that time that citizens who complained to the authorities about the Fiorillos received threatening phone calls,” the report stated.

By 1976 a showdown between Fiorillo and county officials occurred when he was arrested for bringing more waste, with the report stating he vowed he was “going to keep bringing it in.” This was followed a day later by the arrest of four Dutchess Sanitation drivers.

Despite the problems, owner Angelina Hertel in June 1981 applied to “reopen the site and expand the size of the landfill from 75 to 455 acres. That request was turned down as state officials turned to the U.S. Environmental  Protection Agency for assistance to develop a remediate plan that remains in place more than 40 years later.

The Oka’ Institute and personnel from the Water Resource Policy and Management master’s degree at East Central University traveled to Bondo, Kenya to visit the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology (JOOUST). The group of 14 was certified in the Third International Short Course on Integrated Water Resources Management for Sustainable Livelihoods and Food Security. During this trip, ECU and JOOUST met and collaborated on plans to strengthen the partnership between the Pi Institute at JOOUST, JOOUST, the Oka’ Institute at East Central University, and the Water Resource Policy and Management Master’s Degree at East Central University. This partnership began in 2018 with the First International Short Course in Bondo, the Second International Short Course at ECU in 2019, and was continued in spring 2022 when JOOUST Vice Chancellor Dr. Stephen Agong visited ECU to deliver the Watkins Lecture.

This 2-week long course included many relevant Topics to Kenya and Oklahoma. These included surface and groundwater management, indigenous knowledge in water technology, international law on water usage and exploitation, applicability of GIS and RS in water, and citizen participation in Integrated Water Resource Management.

The Oka’ Institute was able to present their research on “Evaluation of Oklahoma’s Water Rates: Is It Fair or Failing?” and “Water Sustainability and the Role of the Oka Institute in Water Management in Oklahoma.” Students of the Water Resources Policy and Management were, also, able to present on many different topics. Those Topics included Glass Recycling, Watershed Management of East Texas, and Effects of Water-Soluble Fraction of Natural Bitumen on Catfish. “This was a great opportunity for students and staff to present their work in an Integrated Water Resource Management- style environment”, Duane Smith, the Executive Director of the Oka Institute at East Central University, states, “It was powerful to see so much collaboration from many different backgrounds in one room.”

During the course, the staff and students were able to visit different water-related areas to learn and experience real-world water issues. This included the Luanda K’Otieno Pier, Rarienda Agriculture Sub-county office, Lake Kanyaboli, Yala Swamp, and the Siaya-Bondo Water and Sanitation Company. These trips focused on challenges due to water supply and sanitation, small scale irrigation schemes, and effects of tourism. “I love to say that the best classrooms are not classrooms. On this trip we were out in the field learning about water issues with Kenyans as they were running water plants or even collecting water at the spring,” said Dr. Christine Pappas, Director of the Water Resource Policy and Management Masters degree at ECU.

One highlight of the trip was a visit to the Blue Economy Hub on the banks of Lake Victoria at JOOUST’s The massive building will be the home of the Global Pi Institute, including scientific labs and living space for 45 researchers. Kenyan President William Ruto commissioned the building just days before ECU arrived. The Vice Chancellor of JOOUST, Stephen Agong,

developed the idea for the Blue Economy Hub and the Global Pi Institute during his 2019 visit to ECU.

ECU and JOOUST plan to collaborate on many fronts, including writing grants for a joint research agenda involving The Oka Institute and the Global Pi Institute. A plan to share masters and Ph.D. students between the two schools is also being developed. It is anticipated that students and faculty will travel more frequently between the two schools. In fact, Dr. Erick Ananga, Associate Professor at ECU stayed in Kenya for several extra weeks to recruit students for ECU and to assist JOOUST Ph.D. students with their dissertation research.

The purpose of the collaboration is to provide global experience to both ECU and JOOUST students and faculty. Additionally, benefitting the local communities surrounding both schools is a priority. People in both Kenya and Oklahoma seek better watershed management to benefit sustainable communities.

Associate Professor of Anthropology Casey Barrier and colleagues Ed Henry of Colorado State University, Robin Beck of the University of Michigan, and Tim Horsley of Horsley Archaeological Prospection, have received a five-year $312,000.00 grant from the National Science Foundation to conduct the largest archaeo-geophysical project to date in all the Americas.

Barrier and his colleagues will use advanced magnetometry equipment to develop the most comprehensive map ever of the city of Cahokia, located in modern-day Illinois across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, Missouri. For this project they will focus on an area of approximately 5.5 square kilometers centered on “downtown Cahokia” that was home to as many as 10,000 to 15,000 residents during a period of rapid growth during the 10th and 11th centuries CE.

“You can think of it as an X-ray image of what’s preserved under the surface,” says Barrier of the research. “So, in terms of preservation of the site, we won’t put a shovel or a trowel into the ground. Yet, the research will provide important information about how humans organized themselves in early cities. And Cahokia is one of a handful of places across the globe where humans initiated urban life without direct contact with other urban societies.”

Using their equipment, the researchers will be able to identify buried house foundations, storage or refuse bins, and other modifications to the landscape like the production of plazas.

“Long after the wooden superstructure and roof has decayed or been taken down, magnetometry can detect the foundations of buildings and houses,” Barrier explains.

Barrier has been conducting research in the region since 2011, when he was writing his Ph.D. dissertation, and some of his colleagues have been studying the area for even longer. The current team of researchers began working at Cahokia together in 2016.

One of the key differences between this new project and their previous work will be the equipment they’re using and the scale at which it allows them to operate.

In the past, Barrier and his colleagues have used simple dual-sensor magnetometers to examine smaller areas. The devices look like pieces of PVC pipe fashioned together in an H-shape. The “legs” of the devices are around 3 feet long with sensors on the tops and bottoms. The researcher using the device holds onto the crossbar, which has controls in the center, and slowly paces the area being examined to collect data. The researchers would work in 30x30 meter grids and slowly follow rope markers.

For this project, the researchers will be using two souped-up versions of these devices with 16 sensors that can be towed by all-terrain vehicles and cover much larger areas more quickly and accurately. The devices will also be outfitted with GPS sensors, eliminating the need for creating and moving physical grid lines.

“Every second, the machine is going to know where it is with sub-centimeter accuracy, so we can cover a lot of ground really quickly.”

Survey work will be done in both the winter and summer and will begin in May of 2023.

Joining the researchers in the field and the lab will be students from each institution involved in the project. Barrier will hire two anthropology majors to work in this lab for the next two academic years and he hopes a few students will have the opportunity to travel to the Cahokia site and engage in field work.

“The students will be working right alongside us in the lab to digitize and interpret our geophysical data as it’s coming in. It’s great to be at a place like Bryn Mawr where I can offer this kind of opportunity to our undergraduates.”

Since they started this project, the researchers have been building relationships with several descendant tribal nations and have designed the project to ensure tribal access to all collected data. The University of Michigan has provided additional funding that will allow the researchers to support representatives of the ancestral nations to meet with them at the site early in the project.

“Working together is an important part of research. It’s important to us that Indigenous groups have a central role in preservation and education at Cahokia and these data will provide a valuable resource.”

After the project, the data will be made available to other scholars and students via the Digital Archaeological Record and a web portal hosted by the University of Michigan. The digital atlas will become the basis for future understandings of early North American urbanism at Cahokia, forming a foundation for multi-year research projects, Ph.D. dissertations, and M.A. theses, and even projects through which students can learn GIS techniques while exploring America’s first city. 

Anthropology 

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – For more than a century – and perhaps dating back to George Washington’s presidency – a Black settlement grew on Laurel Hill above Decker Avenue in what became Johnstown.

Residents farmed the land and sent their sons to fight for freedom in the Civil War, records show.

Some accounts show that several families from that settlement have roots in the Johnstown area that predate by as much as 15 years the arrival in the late 1700s of city founder Joseph Schantz, or Johns.

But traces of those families’ stories are somewhat scattered and weathered away by time, like the remnants of foundations at the site of the settlement.

A group of Indiana University of Pennsylvania faculty members is working to change that.

Alongside the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy and the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources – which owns the land once home to people with last names such as Smith, Brown and Harshberger – efforts are underway to compile and preserve historical accounts compiled locally about the families’ histories, and perhaps to uncover new details.

“The Brown’s Farm settlement is important because it highlights the early presence and participation of Black Americans in the area as it was developing into a robust community,” said Erin Conlin, an IUP associate professor of history.

Census data documented just 14,000 free Black residents in the entire state of Pennsylvania in 1800. Details on the Laurel Hill families’ parts of that history need to be compiled into a “comprehensive” collection before any push to pursue new leads, Conlin said.

‘History and heritage’

Old Johnstown Tribune obituaries, articles and research by members of the Black community already provide insight into some settlers.

Edinborough Smith first settled the land by 1800 and at some point married a Native American woman who died in the 1820s. Their son, John E. Smith, joined the 3rd Regiment, U.S. Colored Troops, in the summer of 1863 before the outfit’s participation in Civil War sieges in South Carolina.

Smith and another resident, John Brown, survived the battles, and the former was memorialized by the the Grand Army of the Republic in Johnstown.

For any family trying to make a life in western Pennsylvania’s wilds in the early 1800s, hard choices had to be made – and there’s evidence that “strong women” in their families kept them together in difficult times, according to archeologist Benjamin Ford, an IUP anthropology professor.

Part of Ford’s role will be to pinpoint the settlement’s landmarks, he said, saying that the team is using geographic information systems (GIS) mapping to mark and identify the exact places where important structures once stood.

The research group obtained funding through the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy to delve into some of the “untold stories” of western Pennsylvania’s parks and forests – in this case, to help preserve a settlement whose ruins remain today on DCNR land, according to Ford, who is also working alongside fellow IUP history professor Jeanine Mazak–Kahne.

“The goal is to help DCNR better interpret and manage some of these history and heritage sites,” he said.

‘More robust narrative’

DCNR Cultural Resources Program Coordinator Angela Jaillet-Wentling said the research is part of a broader effort to look at the history of underrepresented populations whose stories “haven’t necessarily been the easiest to uncover.”

“That’s part of what makes this so exciting,” Jaillet- Wentling said. “And we’re going to be able to look at it from multiple disciplines – including archeology, geography and history – to build a more robust narrative about this settlement.”

Johnstown Area Heritage Association Executive Director Richard Burkert praised the effort.

He noted that JAHA has contributed its own research about the settlement.

There’s a long-held misconception that the roots of Johnstown’s Black community date back to around 1900, in an era when Bethlehem Steel Corp. started heavily recruiting Black people from the South to fill jobs in the mills, Burkert said.

But that’s only a midpoint in the story, he added.

“The origin of Blacks here really goes back to before the town developed, when Johnstown was just some backwoods trading center,” Burkert said. “And even many in today’s Black community don’t know that because this settlement predates their communities here.”

This research, he said, “will help bring this site to life.”

Contact: Lily Grado

STARKVILLE, Miss.—A Mississippi State administrator and a faculty member in the College of Forest Resources are celebrating the January release of a co-authored, newly revised second edition of a recognized and well-utilized forest economics textbook.

MSU authors Steven Bullard and Stephen C. Grado partnered with Mississippi Development Authority’s Marcus Measells and Clemson University’s Thomas Straka to update and modernize W. David Klemperer’s “Forest Resource Economics and Finance,” published by Stephen F. Austin University Press to educate foresters and students nationwide on evaluating forestry investments.

“For generations of forestry students, the first edition of ‘Forest Resource Economics and Finance’ was part of a go-to textbook series, and you see it in the offices of many forestry professionals today. This updated textbook is an excellent resource to better understand forest economics by providing a comprehensive overview of important concepts including microeconomics, inflation, capital budgeting and supply-and-demand,” said Bullard, associate dean of the MSU College of Forest Resources and associate director of the Forest and Wildlife Research Center. MSU is one of 53 forestry programs accredited by the Society of American Foresters and requires an emphasis on forestry economics within its curriculum.

Bullard has nearly four decades of teaching experience in forest economics. He was recognized as an MSU Grisham Master Teacher and has worked in higher education administration for various institutions for almost 20 years, serving as a college dean and then provost at SFASU.

“It was very flattering to be asked to update the text along with other professors who are all very well-respected,” Bullard said. “It turned out to be a good team because we had very good representation for the sub-specialties such as the evaluation of nonmarket forest outputs including multiple-use forestry, regional economic analysis and world economy.”

Grado, a George L. Switzer Professor in the Department of Forestry, considers the textbook to be one of the highlights of his professional career. Currently the president of the Professional Arborist Association of Mississippi Board of Directors, he previously was president of Pennsylvania State University’s Forest Resources Alumni Group Board of Directors.

“Since the first edition was published almost 30 years ago, we wanted to see the material updated,” said Grado, who has more than 30 years of experience teaching natural resource economics. “We also wanted the chance to incorporate new, modern perspectives within the field. For instance, we looked more in-depth at nonmarket evaluations and other accurate Topics like forest certification.”

Measells is an MDA economic specialist III focusing on the forestry sector and is a former senior Extension associate in the MSU Department of Forestry. Clemson’s Straka spent eight years on the MSU faculty. He is an SAF Fellow and a registered forester in South Carolina and Mississippi. Textbook edits and clarifications also were made by economics professors from Oregon State and Pennsylvania State universities and the University of Arkansas at Monticello.

Copies of the textbook may be purchased through the Texas A&M University Press website by visiting www.tamupress.com/book/9781622884117/forest-resource-economics-and-finance.

For more on the Department of Forestry in the College of Forest Resources, visit www.cfr.msstate.edu.

MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.