Forestry commission to fund study of state's tree canopy
Article By: Staff
Dr. Huidae Cho, assistant professor of geospatial science and computing at the University of North Georgia (UNG), has picked up where his colleague in the Lewis F. Rogers Institute of Environmental & Spatial Analysis left off.
Following Dr. Allison Bailey's research on Georgia's tree canopy based on 2015 data, Cho and two UNG undergraduate students are conducting the same research based on 2009 data thanks to a grant from the Georgia Forestry Commission. The GFC employed Bailey and two of her undergraduate students and a UNG alumnus in 2016 to conduct the first study.
"Dr. Bailey did the first study of the tree canopy with 2015 data," Cho said. "My project is doing the same analysis using 2009 data."
But first Cho and his students must replicate Bailey's results to ensure they use the same methodology. Then they will determine the tree canopy of Georgia in 2009 and compare it to 2015.
"This will allow us to compare apples to apples," Cho said, explaining the results will show the increase or decrease of the state's tree canopy between 2009 and 2015.
Cho expects to complete the project's first phase in spring 2020 and the second in summer 2020.