As a major user of raw materials and a major 

 supplier of food, the United States also has an 

 interest in better mapping and assessment of the 

 world , s natural resources. U.S. economic forecasting 

 and planning can be significantly aided by better 

 information on strategic resources. Better information 

 also enhances the possibilities for U.S. public and 

 private organizations to collaborate in exploration and 

 utilization activities with other countries. Greater 

 use of remote sensing technologies increases the 

 commercial opportunities for U.S. firms to provide 

 equipment and support services related to data analysis 

 and interpretation. Finally, monitoring changing 

 resources and environmental patterns may enable the 

 United States to work more closely with other countries 

 to prevent or alleviate serious environmental problems 

 that would be harmful to all nations. And, of course, 

 remote sensing technology can have important 

 applications in all the other resource sectors 

 discussed in this report. 



Ongoing Work 



Several U.S. programs are experienced in applying 

 remote sensing information to natural resources so that 

 better policy decisions can be made. For example, the 

 National Wetlands Inventory (U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

 Service) uses remote sensing as a basis for mapping and 

 characterizing wetland ecosystems. Likewise, a number 

 of state governments. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, 

 TVA, and several universities are using remote sensing 

 and associated technologies to assess changes and 

 trends in land use. The Western Energy and Land Use 

 Team in Fort Collins, Colorado has worked with the 

 technologies that must accompany remote sensing, 

 including information storage and retrieval, pattern 

 recognition, composite mapping, and ecosystem 

 characterization. 



Advice and assistance to developing countries for 

 remote sensing processing, analysis, and interpretation 

 of imagery, or for organizing national remote sensing 

 programs, is available through a small number of U.S. 

 commercial or nonprofit consulting firms, some 

 universities, and, for applications relating to the 

 geological sciences and mapping, the U.S. Geological 

 Survey. NASA, of course, has been involved in the 

 actual operation of LANDSAT and in assistance with 

 receiving and analyzing data, and map libraries are 

 available for a nominal cost. Furthermore, AID has 

 sponsored a program designed to assist developing 

 countries with the use of remote sensing data and to 

 support experimental application projects. 



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