'Using Your GPS' Workshops Planned in Coeur d’Alene, Sandpoint May 11, 12

Friday, April 6 2012

A Global Positioning System or “GPS” receiver is becoming as common to work and play in forests as a compass. Yet many who own a GPS unit feel they are only using a small portion of its capabilities.
Pre-registration is requested by May 4 at University of Idaho Extension offices in Coeur d'Alene for Kootenai County and Sandpoint for Bonner County. A $20 registration fee covers resource materials and refreshments. The program is eligible for three Society of American Foresters CFE credits and 4 Idaho Pro-Logger credits.
This spring, a half-day University of Idaho Extension program titled “Using Your GPS” will introduce participants to the science underlying GPS and the wide range of tasks that can be accomplished with GPS and their accompanying technologies, such as mapping programs, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and internet data sources.
Topics to be discussed indoors include: “Maps and Coordinate Systems”; “How do Global Positioning Systems Work”; “Entering Waypoints to a GPS”; “Forestry Applications for GPS”; “Shopping for a GPS Receiver”; and “The Future of GPS and Allied Technologies”.
In the last half of the program, participants will practice field exercises with a GPS receiver. Activities will include: assessing satellites and accuracy; setting and locating waypoints, marking trails; streams, etc.; and estimating acreages.
The program is scheduled Friday, May 11, from 1 to 5 p.m. at the University of Idaho Extension Office in Kootenai County at 1808 North 3rd Street in Coeur d’Alene. The same program is planned Saturday, May 12, from 8 a.m. to noon at the University of Idaho Extension Bonner County office that is located next to the Bonner County Fairgrounds in Sandpoint.
For registration questions, contact the University of Idaho Extension Office in Kootenai County at (208) 446-1683 or Bonner County (208) 263-8511. For program questions, contact extension forester Chris Schnepf at (208) 446-1460.
The program will also be held in Moscow on June 1 and St. Maries on Sept. 14.
The program is co-sponsored by University of Idaho Extension, the Idaho Department of Lands, and the USDA Forest Service. Registration forms can also be downloaded at http://www.uidaho.edu/extension/forestry.

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