Excerpt
NATURAL resource managers have used the Land Evaluation and Site Assessment (LESA) system to numerically score land parcels to determine their suitability for agricultural use. The Soil Conservation Service initially developed the LESA methodology to evaluate the impact of federal projects on agricultural land conversions. But a more generalized LESA system also was created to assist state and local governments in their own farmland protection efforts (15, 16, 18). LESA's potential for a wide range of uses has since been recognized in such areas as agricultural districting, purchase of development rights, property tax assessment, environmental impact assessment, and planning for local infrastructure (3).
The first statewide LESA system was developed in Hawaii to zone agricultural land. Zoning requirements necessitated an areawide system that could simultaneously rate the suitability of all land in the state. Areawide assessment, particularly on such a large scale, places special requirements on a LESA system not found in the more typical case-by-case applications. A computerized, geographic information system (GIS) was used to implement the Hawaii LESA model. Although a GIS-based LESA creates additional problems in developing an areawide system, GIS technology also offers new opportunities in system design and use. Results …
Footnotes
Carol A. Ferguson is an assistant professor and Richard L. Bowen is an associate professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics and M. Akram Kahn is an assistant professor in the Department of Agricultural Engineering, College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, 96822.
- Copyright 1991 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
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