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The Columbia Regional Geospatial Service Center can be attributed to the vision of four people:

  • Dr. Darrel McDonald, Geospatial Scientist;
  • Arthur Temple, East Texas Timberland Pioneer;
  • Dr. Kent Adair, SFA Forestry Dean;
  • and Dr. James C. Kroll, its first director.

Each of these men contributed significantly to the evolution of what has become a model for the entire nation.

Dr. McDonald was one of the first geospatial scientists in the region and enjoys a national reputation as an early pioneer in geospatial sciences. He created and successfully developed the Humanities Urban Environmental Sciences Laboratory (HUES) within the Geography Department at Stephen F. Ausin State University (SFASU). His early work cemented strong cooperative relationships with many of the east Texas communities; supporting such activities as city planning, cultural development and training of the next generation of geospatial scientists for rural eastern Texas.

Mr. Arthur Temple, not only was a significant pioneer and force in the pineywoods region of eastern Texas, but recognized the need for development of technologies to support rural America. From the beginnings of the College of Forestry at SFASU, Mr. Temple provided material and non-material support to the needed to develop the high quality education and research programs needed to develop forest industries. His financial contributions and encouragement are directly responsible in generating the national and international reputation of SFASU’s forestry programs.

Dr. Kent Adair recognized the potential of geospatial sciences in the economic and natural resources management of the region, creating the Tucker Center at SFASU. Working with geospatial scientist, P. R. Blackwell, Dr. Adair laid the early framework for technology development and regional support.

In 1997, Mr. Temple — through the T.L.L. Temple Foundation — saw the need to develop a regional research and technology center. Dr. Scott Beasley teamed up with Dr. Kroll to propose a revolutionary new entity: The Forest Resources Institute (FRI). The Foundation dedicated almost $5 million in startup funds to develop FRI, whose mission was to:

  • Develop a computerized database system, which would assemble critical data and information related to forest and cultural resources of the region; then,
  • Make this information readily accessible through the Worldwide Web to:
    • Private landowners
    • Resource managers
    • Educators
    • Policy-makers
    • Agencies
  • Identify critical information needs, then
  • Conduct meaningful research related to these needs.

The Birth of the Columbia Center

By 2000, it became apparent the mission needed to be expanded to include supporting emergency response and management. Federally imposed mandates for planning by various agencies placed a heavy demand on small municipalities and counties in our region. Clearly, there was a need to provide technologically advanced support to a host of mandates, especially emergency planning. Although traditionally viewed as “rural” by policy-makers — and thereby not needing the support provided to large metropolitan areas — east Texas faces the eventual reality of having to absorb and deal with large numbers of citizens fleeing disasters occurring in metropolitan areas.

The full capabilities of FRI and its sister center, HUES, rose to international prominence in 2003 and brought national attention to their capabilities as “geospatial first responders” when the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Nacogdoches and much of East Texas.

The two centers provided immediate support to first responders during the first two weeks of the recovery efforts, where hundreds of maps and massive amounts of imagery were provided to the various state and federal agencies involved. FRI and HUES developed the Primary Search Vector during the first days of the disaster from data collected during search and recovery and it is credited as contributing significantly to the recovery efforts.

A new appreciation for the importance of geospatial products emerged among field personnel of the FBI, FEMA and other government agencies. The federal government’s investigative report credited FRI and HUES as significant contributors to the recovery efforts.

Soon after, HUES and the GIS services of FRI merged into a single entity, The Columbia Regional Geospatial Service Center (CRGSC). This merger in of itself was a model for the nation, in that university-based geospatial programs often are spread across several departments, with little collaboration and significant duplication of effort and technologies. The new CRGSC would combine all university resources into a single unit.

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, and Congressman Louis Gohmert, successfully acquired Congressional funding for CRCSC in FY 05 to establish both the CRGSC and the Columbia Regional Geospatial Service Center System. A significant aspect of the Center’s success involved working with the Texas National Guard (Air and Army) and it seemed logical to channel funding through this agency. The system would include CRGSC and a similar center at the University of Texas at El Paso, more than a 1,000 miles apart. The Texas Natural Resources Information System would serve as a hub for the system. TNRIS has been charged with coordinating and dissimilating important geospatial data among and between state agencies.

One important claim by the original concept was an interconnected network of regional centers, rather than a centralized system, would prevent loss of services, even if a center is damaged or destroyed. This concept applies both to man-made (i.e. accidents, terrorism) and natural disasters.

In late 2005, two hurricanes hit the Gulf Coast Region once again providing an opportunity for the CRGSC System to prove itself. Hurricane Rita struck the Texas Gulf Coast, its eye passed right over Nacogdoches, leaving hundreds of thousands of citizens without essential services and over a million acres of valuable timber on the ground. In spite of taking a direct hit itself, CRGSC managed to relocate and restore critical services within a few hours, and building on what had been learned through the Columbia disaster, the CRGSC provided government agencies and community groups with over 1,300 pre-printed maps and documents for use by first responders and those fleeing the coastal communities. Once again, as a consequence of the actions of CRGSC, lives and property benefited. These disasters provided an unfortunate “proof of concept” to the regional geospatial service center concept.

Senator Hutchison and Congressman Gohmert obtained additional funding for expansion and maintenance for FY06. An additional center at Texas Tech University will come online in FY07 and expansion funds are in the FY08 request for the addition of at least three additional centers.
 
 

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