Letters to the editor.

Share your opinion with a letter to the editor. Submissions may be sent to:

Saskatchewan Business

2213B Hanselman Court, Saskatoon, SK, S7L 6A8; faxed to [phone]; or e-mailed to [e-mail]. Letters must include writer's name, address and telephone number. Submissions may be edited for length, clarity or taste.

NDLC project engages communities and prepares for the future

In his Letter to the Editor in the February 2003 issue of SaskBusiness entitled "Article outlines problems in provincial government's policies" Jim Finnigan reports that he is "confident that there is nothing wrong with the job the SRC is doing" but raises some misunderstandings about SRC's resource management research and development and about how it is being funded.

SRC has become a key player in Saskatchewan's economic strategy by working with local partners to conduct research and development (R&D) that enhances our ability to benefit from our unique resources and opportunities. Serving over 1,200 clients per year, SRC uses every available dollar of its provincial investment to leverage additional spending on R&D for the benefit of Saskatchewan. The economic impact of SRC's activities is many times greater than the cost of the work actually conducted.

A good example is the North Digital Land Cover (NDLC) project referred to by Mr. Finnigan. NDLC combines remote sensing, image analysis and geographic information systems to create a digital land use/land cover classification system covering most of the forested area in Saskatchewan plus the forest fringe area. Continuing R&D in this area is needed to produce methods that will provide the outputs required by the end-users, including the development of new translations, new algorithms, and new validation methodologies. The information produced will enable industry, communities, and government to make intelligent land use decisions ranging from forestry practices to agro-forestry development to carbon sequestration capacity (and eventually carbon credit management). SRC served as a catalyst, building up the consortium of over seven partners including local communities, federal departments, and provincial agencies. At least two-thirds of the funding comes from the external (non-provincial) partners. This is typi cal of the leverage on provincial investment that SRC attracts for its R&D activities. Further, the economic impact will be much greater than the $19 million that is being saved compared with the traditional means of obtaining the same information.

NDLC illustrates SRC's ability to develop and implement new technologies focused on strategic challenges that will have large future impacts in the province. Such work helps advance Saskatchewan as a world leader in the application of new technologies that create local wealth and create or sustain local jobs.

Dr. Laurier L. Schramm, President and CEO 

Saskatchewan Research Council