We would like to express our overwhelming support for continued open and free access to data collected under the National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP).
The NAIP is an integral component in a multitude of GIS applications widely accessed by the public as well as a foundational base map layer for applications used by a network of people and organizations at all levels of government and academia in Idaho. Open and free access to NAIP data allows urban and natural resource program managers, decision-makers, and staff at many levels (administrative, technical, GIS, and field) to engage in quality analysis to protect natural resources, to provide data verification, and to monitor change detection.
The range and variety of how imagery, and NAIP in particular, is used - from regulatory and compliance monitoring to field mapping to scientific assessment – is a testament to its importance. We believe that collecting data that serves a public good is an excellent role for government agencies like the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Farm Service Agency (FSA).
We acknowledge the budget pressures motivating the possible move to a licensed data model; however, limited access to NAIP will have considerable impacts to state, regional, and local governments already experiencing tightened budgets and reduced staff. As frequent users of NAIP, we urge USDA-APFO-FSA decision makers to maintain free and open access to NAIP imagery in order to continue to share information and carry out our public interest work.
