3D Elevation Program (3DEP) Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) 2017 Awards

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The U.S. Geological Survey National Geospatial Program is pleased to announce awards resulting from the USGS Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for the 3D Elevation Program (3DEP), initially issued on August 11, 2016. (FedBizOpps: G16PS00711 Grants.gov: G16AS00121). The BAA is a publicly accessible process to develop partnerships for the collection of lidar and derived elevation data for 3DEP. 3DEP presents a unique opportunity for collaboration between all levels of government, to leverage the services and expertise of private sector mapping firms that acquire the data, and to create jobs now and in the future.

The USGS, along with other federal, state, local and private agencies, is establishing the collection program to respond to the growing needs for high-quality, three-dimensional mapping data of the United States. Current and accurate 3D elevation data are essential to help communities cope with natural hazards and disasters such as floods and landslides, support infrastructure management, ensure agricultural success, strengthen environmental decision-making and bolster national security. Federal funds to support this opportunity were provided by the USGS, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the Natural Resources Conservation Service. The USGS is acting in a management role to facilitate planning and acquisition for the broader community, through the use of government contracts and partnership agreements.

In 2017, the 3DEP program offered partnership funding to 33 proposals in 24 States and Territories.

3DEP - FY17 BAA Project List

View table version of Awards List

AK - Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska lidar: The Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska (FNSB) lidar collection is planned for Summer 2017. The current lidar datasets within the FNSB are fragmented, old or do not meet the minimum QL2 specification in most of the populated areas. The purpose of the 2017 collection is to create a single collection for most of the populated areas of the Borough that is updated and meets the minimum QL2 specifications. The FNSB plans to collect QL1 data in the core developed areas in order to enable feature extraction, feature modeling, and more precise ground modeling. The FNSB has a population of 98,500, and a total area of 7,361 sq. miles, about the size of New Jersey. A majority of the FNSB is uninhabited, so the planned lidar acquisition will be limited to 2,528 square miles, which will cover 99.9% of the population. The QL1 upgrade area covers 416 square miles and includes 88.9% of the population.

AK - Prince of Wales Island QL1 Lidar Project: Prince of Wales (POW), Alaska is America's 4th largest island and is dominated by a closed canopy, coniferous forest which challenges the utility of coarse-resolution IfSAR and QL2 lidar for multiple data analysis needs and planned applications. The need for QL1 lidar has been recognized in order to assist ongoing USFS land management programs, measure current and future timber availability, support derivative mapping such as NHD and WBD updates, conduct fish habitat studies, evaluate transportation infrastructure, detect geologic hazards, and characterize cultural heritage sites. This collaboration endeavors to collect highly accurate QL1 lidar data over POW in two phases with residual benefits to a growing consortium of funding partners and data users.

AL - Alabama Multi-Region Lidar Project: The lidar collection for the Alabama Multi-Region Lidar Project will result in elevation coverage for the entire State of Alabama. Furthermore, the AGIO and the State of Georgia Geographic Information Office have been working together to maximize the effectiveness of their programs by designing their project areas to help achieve contiguous coverage along the Alabama / Georgia border. This coordination satisfies the priorities of all levels of government as well as the general user community. The majority of the counties included in this effort would not have the local means to acquire the data; this joint project includes contributions from multiple levels of government allowing all to share in the cost.

CA - California Natural Resources Agency - SW Mendocino County Lidar for Forestry and Geology: The program known as the Timber Regulation and Forest Restoration Program in the California Natural Resources Agency plans to use high resolution elevation data: 1) to provide base map information for geologic, geomorphic, environmental, and forestry mapping projects, 2) to aid investigations into the geomorphic response to forest practices and fires, and 3) to support geomorphic modelling. The data will be enhanced with hyperspectral data for 3-dimensional analysis of vegetation conditions in response to anthropogenic and natural surface processes. The data will support emergency operations such as post-fire erosion and flood planning as well as routine use of the USGS post-fire debris flow prediction model to better protect natural resources and public safety.

FL - Northwest Florida Water Management District (NWFWMD) Lower Choctawhatchee: USGS, FEMA, and NWFWMD have partnered together to collect Quality Level 2 lidar data for NWFWMD's Lower Choctawhatchee and the adjacent St. Andrew-St. Joseph Bays Watersheds. These watersheds include portions of Bay, Gulf, Holmes, Jackson, Walton, and Washington Counties. The USGS 3DEP program enabled NWFWMD to double the area of lidar acquisition that will aid in the update and delivery of flood risk information under NWFWMD's Cooperating Technical Partner Program with FEMA and will also support NWFWMD's additional water resource programs such as water quality, water supply, and natural resource protection. This will be the first phase of lidar collection updates for this area since the 2006-2007 lidar collection.

FL - Lidar Acquisition Proposal for Upper St. John's River Basin in East Central Florida: The purpose of this project is to acquire and process topographical data (using lidar) of the northern half of the Upper St. Johns River Basin in east-central Florida, an area of approximately 688 square miles. This project will complete the acquisition of seamless, up-to-date and accurate lidar coverage of the uppermost drainage basin of Florida's longest river, the St. Johns River, for the purpose of informing and improving wetland monitoring, modeling and restoration, in order to secure water supply, water quality, natural systems and flood control in East Central Florida (the Space Coast) and areas downstream.

GA - State of Georgia FY17 3DEP Project: Georgia’s 3DEP grant requests the USGS cost share with the State’s lidar purchasing consortium to fly 22 counties in Georgia. The project footprint, designed by the consortium, represents the collective priorities of its members, including: GA GIO, GA NRCS, GA DNR/EPD/FEMA Region IV, five Regional Commissions and their member cities and counties. These priorities also align with those of three additional Fed agencies. All 22 counties lack current elevation data and the collection would tie together two ongoing projects, which would jointly result in nearly 1/3rd of the State being covered in QL2 lidar. The proposed flight would also include coverage of 25%, or 15 of the States 60 USDA StrikeForce counties (out of 159 total), which would not be possible outside of cost-sharing opportunities provided by 3DEP. IN addition, because there is overlap, the GIOs of GA & AL coordinated their respective 3DEP applications to better ensure contiguous coverage along both States' borders.

HI - 2017 Hawai'i Island (Big Island) Lidar Project: The purpose of this project is to complete a high accuracy, high resolution topographic elevation map of Hawai'i Island, Hawai'i. Currently Hawai'i Island lacks the quality of elevation data required to support the critical lidar applications outlined in the National Enhanced Elevation Assessment. NOAA and its partners have identified 45 separate projects from 25 separate agencies that would immediately benefit from lidar data. NOAA anticipates hundreds of future projects will benefit as a direct result of an island wide lidar map.

IL - Sangamon and Morgan County: The purpose of this project is to purchase and manage high resolution elevation data (LiDAR) to support the NRCS Agricultural Water Management Initiative, the Mississippi River Basin Initiative, and to promote soil health. The project will support the acquisition of 1499 square miles of data in Sangamon and Morgan Counties in West Central Illinois. Additional area may be added to this project as funding allows.

IL - LaSalle 4 County, Illinois Lidar data Acquisition: LaSalle County is the only county in the northern third of Illinois for which lidar data have not been acquired. The county is a high priority for acquisition for local, state and federal agencies. In addition, three surrounding counties, DeKalb, Kendall and Grundy, will be collected. This brings the total project to 2,532 square miles. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Office of Water Resources (IDNR-OWR), the Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS), under the auspices of the Prairie Research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) are partners in this project.

IN - 2017 3DEP QL2 Lidar Acquisition: Indiana currently has QL3 lidar for the entire state (~36,426 sq. mi.) across all 92 counties. Indiana has developed a new statewide 3DEP lidar plan to collect a minimum of QL2 lidar by county statewide; upgrades and additional derivative products may be incorporated into the statewide effort as the plan matures. IGIC began this program in 2016 starting with 3 counties, the Spring 2017 project represents the next phase covering an additional 11 counties; the Fall 2017 acquisition will result in the acquisition of 37 additional counties. The remainder of the state is scheduled for acquisition in 2018. The base funding for this project is provided by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Indiana Office.

ME - Eastern Central Maine Lidar Acquisition: The Eastern Central Maine lidar project will capture approximately 8,730 square miles of data. Most of this acquisition will be for areas without any existing data. The acquisition will satisfy requirements identified by the US Fish and Wildlife Services, the St. Croix River Watershed International Joint Commission, and the USDA NRCS in addition to the State of Maine's priority areas. Data acquisition and QA/QC will be completed by the Maine GeoLibrary contracting team as part of a five year strategy for acquiring USGS QL2 specification data for all of Maine.

MI - Wayne County Michigan Lidar: Current lidar acquisitions provide Michigan with QL2 lidar for 56 of 68 lower peninsula counties. The only county that does not have QL2 lidar in southern Michigan is Wayne County, this includes the city of Detroit. This project will remedy this and provide complete lidar coverage for southern Michigan. Using the State of Michigan's Michigan Statewide Authoritative Imagery and Lidar (MiSAIL) program, lidar will be acquired for Wayne County Michigan in 2017.

MO - STL Lidar Consortium: The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District (MSD) and the STL Lidar Consortium plans to collect QL2 lidar at the 0.7 meter spacing during the Spring 2017 acquisition season . The project size is approximately 625 square miles which represents the MSD service region within St. Louis County and the city of St. Louis, Missouri, plus at least one municipality in St. Charles County, the city of St. Peters. The current lidar in this areas is dated and does not meet QL2 specifications.

NC - North Carolina Lidar 2017 Phase 4: North Carolina is currently in the midst of a 5 phase statewide lidar collection begun in 2014. Phase 1-3 in North Carolina are complete, Phase one and two were collected in conjunction with USGS in 2014. Phase three was collected by North Carolina in 2015. Phase four was partially flown in 2016 by NC Risk Management contractors utilizing Geiger Technology and is currently being processed. NC believes the Geiger technology is mature enough to use in a phased statewide collection. This technology adds a significant density of points moving from the previous 2 points per meter (ppm) to an acquired 30 ppm product with an 8 ppm product being processed and delivered. NC is working on the remainder of Phase 4 funding and collection process. The aerial extent of this final section of Phase 4 in North Carolina covers just over 4,100 square miles covering 9 counties impacting 125 Cities and towns and 18,589 tiles.

NJ - Northwest New Jersey 6 County Lidar Collection: This project will acquire consistent QL2 level data for 6 northwestern New Jersey Counties (Sussex, Warren, Passaic, Somerset, Morris and Hunterdon), and a small portion of Rockland County, New York, that is part of a critical New Jersey drainage basin. Existing data in these areas are 8 to 10 years old, were collected in 6 separate projects, and are of widely varying quality and specifications. Two sections of the state immediately adjacent to the collection area of the proposed project, totaling 10 counties, have recently been re-acquired to QL2 level. As such, updating data for this present project to QL2 level will allow consistent elevation based analyses to be done for a large portion of New Jersey.

NY - Southwest New York Lidar 2017: Lidar at USGS Quality Level 2 will be collected for southwestern New York State, covering more than 3800 square miles. This will complete Lidar coverage of five counties (Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Genesee, and Wyoming) in combination with existing data. The area includes areas draining into Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, as well as drainage into the Allegheny River system. The planned collection area has been designed to overlap existing Lidar datasets, to maximize utility, and to prepare for future collections in adjacent areas.

NV - Lidar Acquisition for the Reno / Carson City, NV Urban Corridor and Surrounding Areas: The Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology and the University of Nevada, Reno are using matching funds from the USGS 3DEP program to collect lidar for the Reno-Carson City urban corridor and surrounding areas. The acquisition will provide much needed high resolution topographic data to a fast growing urban corridor surrounded by public lands which are managed by multiple federal and state agencies. Lidar data will benefit a broad spectrum of scientific investigations including geologic hazards, habitat suitability, mineral resources, and energy infrastructure. These data will be particularly helpful for understanding the region's geologic hazards including flood hazards along the Truckee and Carson Rivers, flash floods on alluvial fans, landslides, and the seismic hazard of active faults. The Reno-Carson City corridor is an ongoing NBMG focus area for USGS Statemap-funded geologic mapping projects and new lidar data will improve the detail and accuracy of future geologic maps.

OH - Ohio - Chippewa Watershed 3DEP Project: The Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District (MWCD) manages and maintains the Chippewa Flood Control Project to reduce flooding and periods of inundation for Chippewa Creek and its tributaries. The Chippewa watershed, covering 188 sq. miles is part of the Muskingum River basin which drains to the Ohio river. Through operating and maintenance partnerships with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers the 14 dams throughout the MWCD is estimated to have saved $10.7 billion in property damage. Maintenance funds for the 4 wet dams and 4 dry dams, creek channel, banks and berms comes from an assessment of local land owners in the Chippewa Sub-district. This assessment process is the intended beneficiary of new, enhanced elevation data, watershed delineation, and impervious surface data sought through this 3DEP application and will provide much needed information necessary to determine the efficacy and future need for 3DEP QL2 lidar to support watershed delineation and the assessment process.

OR - Oregon DOGAMI/Oregon Lidar Consortium FY17 Proposal for the US Geological Survey: The OLC proposes to collect lidar as part of 3DEP in the John Day 2017 project (645 square miles). This project will be collected to the QL1 specifications and meet the data requirements of USGS Base Specification V 1.2. Collection will occur during the summer of 2017. The project area was selected to reflect priorities in the Oregon Lidar Prioritization Plan and priority areas in Oregon Governor Kitzhaber’s 2015-2017 Clean Water Partnership initiative.

SC - South Carolina DNR High Resolution Elevation Data Development for Coastal Counties in South Carolina: The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) on behalf of the South Carolina Lidar Consortium intends to collect lidar data following USGS QL2 standards for Berkeley, North Charleston, and Williamsburg counties to support federal, state and local governments with 1-foot contour intervals for those coastal counties. The SCDNR along with the South Carolina Lidar Consortium has a successful history of acquiring highly accurate lidar data that is utilized by various federal, state and local governments as well as private and nonprofit organizations. By acquiring this new highly accurate standard of lidar data for these coastal counties, we can better support South Carolina’s citizens and partners in emergency management planning, transportation planning, hydrological and geological mapping, engineering planning, law enforcement, and health and safety applications within the coastal plain of South Carolina. The USGS will contract for independent QA/QC of this project via the GPSC.

TN - Tennessee 2017 Planimetric, Topographic, Lidar and Digital Orthoimagery for Shelby County, TN: To date, Shelby County does not have a comprehensive, detailed standard digital land base. This effort will help provide the land base to support most of the Shelby County departments and cooperative agencies including but not limited to resource management, analysis, economic development, and support for consulting groups. The data will be used extensively in the private sector for development and analysis purposes. The more accurate this land base is the greater it can be utilized. This project will provide digital orthophotography, lidar, and derivative products such as DTM, contours, as well as Planimetric data.lp to determine appropriate future investment for public services and private improvement.

TN - West Tennessee Lidar Project: Tennessee has been selected for a 3DEP award to produce lidar data for 11 counties in west Tennessee. Funding for this project is coming from the Tennessee Department of Transportation, USDA/NRCS, Tennessee Valley Authority, and the Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration. This project will benefit all levels of government in support of land management, floodplain mapping, forest inventory, economic development, transportation planning, orthophotography processing, and environmental management.

TX - Lidar for Central Texas: The Texas Natural Resources Information System (TNRIS), a division of the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB), is acquiring over 6,500 square miles of high quality lidar for central Texas through the Texas Strategic Mapping (StratMap) program and contract. The StratMap contributing partners for this project are TWDB, Williamson County, San Antonio River Authority (SARA), USFWS, and City of Austin (COA). Lidar acquired from this project will be used for floodplain management and planning, feature extraction, water quality modeling, stream restoration potential analysis, change detection, 9-1-1, wildfire mitigation, and habitat identification/modeling for endangered species. The project AOI includes the site of the largest wildfire in Texas history, the Bastrop Complex Fire of 2011 and is home to 9 reservoirs, 174 springs, 6 State Parks, 14 USGS stream gauges and is crossed by the Guadalupe and Colorado Rivers contributing data to many small communities with significant repetitive loss.

TX - Lidar for East Texas: The Texas Natural Resources Information System (TNRIS), a division of the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB), is acquiring approximately 3,440 square miles of high quality lidar for areas of East Texas currently without lidar coverage through the Texas Strategic Mapping (StratMap) program and contract. The StratMap contributing partners for this project are TWDB and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). Lidar acquired from this project will be used for floodplain management and planning, feature extraction, water quality modeling, stream restoration potential analysis, change detection, 9-1-1, wildfire mitigation, habitat identification/modeling for endangered species, and dam safety. The project AOI includes the site of the largest National Forest in Texas, Sam Houston National Forest, and is home to 4 reservoirs, 14 springs, 2 State Parks, 3 USGS stream gauges and is crossed by the Sabine and Trinity Rivers filling current gaps in lidar coverage for both of their HUC basins.

VA - Virginia Chesapeake Bay Watershed Completion: Virginia proposes to have high accuracy lidar elevation data (QL2) collected for the portion of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed area in Virginia currently without 3DEP quality elevation data products. These data will play a vital role in protecting Virginia residents from flooding, aiding transportation planning, in conserving soils, and in improving the quality of waters flowing into our Nation's largest estuary system.

VT - 3D Elevation Lidar: Achieving Statewide QL2 Coverage for Vermont: The VCGI Lidar Program endeavors to complete statewide QL2 data coverage by reacquiring 20% of the state with outdated QL3 data. Originally spurred to action by Tropical Storm Irene flooding in 2011, recent renewable energy and water quality legislation are the latest priorities underscoring the ongoing critical need for this resource. This data facilitates state water quality and resiliency efforts to proactively mitigate future storm damage by managing future flood risks, erosion and landslide hazards. Statewide coverage will support regional and statewide efforts to develop accurate FEMA digital floodplain risk maps, innovative stormwater and water quality initiatives and NHD and river corridor hazard layer updates. The state's funding match comes from the Clean Water Initiative in support of conserving “natural infrastructure” to reduce storm water pollution and erosion and to build resilience while supporting municipalities and farmers in meeting the state's clean water goals.

WA - Washington Olympic Peninsula and Coastal Plains QL1 Lidar Project: Western Washington exhibits some of the most diverse terrain, rich natural resources, and challenging vegetation coverages in the contiguous United States, in addition to being considered one of the most at-risk areas in the nation in terms of geologic hazards. The Washington Olympic Peninsula and Coastal Plains QL1 Lidar Project will not only greatly enhance outdated coverage, but will fill large coverage gaps and align with previous collection efforts to complete a temporally consistent, systematic lidar dataset for all of Western Washington. This partnership, consisting of state, local, tribal, and private entities, identifies approximately 5,100 square miles of collective land interest for lidar collection to serve as the basis for land and aquatic natural resources decisions, emergency management, geologic mapping, hazard mitigation, and urban planning.

WA - Columbia, Garfield and Walla Walla Counties, Washington 2017 Lidar Acquisition: Columbia, Garfield, and Walla Walla counties, in partnership with FEMA and Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will procure of QL2 and QL1 lidar data to cover all three counties through 3DEP in the Fall of 2017. With our partners and 3DEP’s assistance we will acquire approximately 2,969 sq. miles of lidar including a portion of the Umatilla National Forest. The acquisition supports mission critical functions identified in the National Enhanced Elevation Assessment, including but not limited to: floodplain mapping and risk management; geological hazards analysis; improved accuracies for 911 response and transportation planning. The project will provide a seamless data set with benefit to multiple regional, state and federal resource managers such as USFS, NRCS, NAIP, Conservation Districts, Wildland Firefighters, and State Fish and Wildlife agencies.

WI - Dodge County Wisconsin QL2 Lidar 2017: Dodge County Wisconsin will acquire QL2 lidar data in the Spring of 2017. The Dodge County Wisconsin QL2 Lidar 2017 project will deliver benefits and provide transformational data necessary to gain a better understanding of current topographic conditions within the 907 square mile county. This high-resolution QL2 lidar dataset addresses several state functional activities including: flood-risk management, infrastructure and construction management, urban and regional planning, natural resources conservation, water supply and quality, cultural resources preservation and management, wildlife habitat management, renewable energy resources, resource mining, agriculture and precision farming, and telecommunications.

WI - SEWI LIDAR 2017 (WI): The USGS 3DEP program allows the SEWI Lidar 2017 counties to acquire high resolution lidar, with a capture density >8 ppm. We intend to leverage the photon counting lidar collection platform. The total project area 503 square miles. The SEWI Lidar 2017 area is susceptible to flooding throughout the year, which has an economic impact resulting from loss of property, business or infrastructure. Lidar data will serve as the primary source for a Digital Terrain Model (DTM) and contour generation. Benefits include the capability to model flood events and plan preventative measures.

WI - SE WI 5 Counties: The Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission in cooperation with 3DEP will provide final processing for lidar data to meet QL2 standards and further provide a classified point cloud, breaklines, and DEM to 3DEP specifications. The existing data was collected in March of 2015 by Quantum Spatial at a Quality Level of 2, or a point density of greater than 2 points per meter square for the following counties: Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Walworth, Washington, and Waukesha.The total project area is 2,084 square miles.

WI - 2017 Wisconsin Statewide Lidar Data Collection: The Wisconsin Land Information Program (WLIP) in cooperation with 3DEP will acquire QL2 lidar data for four Wisconsin counties. There are overlapping areas of interest with USGS, NOAA, NPS, and USACE throughout the project area, including FY17 FEMA High Priority Areas. The project's purpose is to make further progress on completion of a high quality statewide elevation layer for use by all stakeholders. Local contributing partners include the counties of Dane, La Crosse, Langlade, and Sawyer. The elevation layer is needed for floodplain delineation projects by FEMA and Wisconsin DNR, watershed/pollution modeling for TMDLs by EPA and county land conservation offices, and general topographic survey mapping by DOT, NRCS, NFS, FWS, COE, Tribes, private businesses, and individuals. It will benefit county planning and zoning, land conservation, roads, and economic development.