Sharing border information proves to be useful environmental tool for U.S. and Mexico

The Transboundary Resource Inventory Program (TRIP) is a regionally-based bi-national effort to have the shared natural resources of the United States-Mexico border region mapped, measured, and made available to interested information consumers.

As a consortium of border institutions, TRIP facilitates efforts to inventory, collect and share information regarding airsheds, aquifers, rivers, energy sources, soils, land use, mineral reserves, flora and fauna, atmospheric conditions and wildlife corridors of the border region. As the region grows, transboundary data is needed to make informed decisions regarding resource management, transportation, public health, environmental protection, land use, agriculture and economic development.

Our border environment involves inter-connected ecosystems and shared resources that ignore the international boundaries. Working bi-nationally to protect the region's natural resources requires understanding them in the transboundary context.

Digitized data displayed spatially through Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is a powerful tool for the challenges the border region faces. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) is providing a key element for a border-wide information system through an extensive border mapping project that covers an area 100 miles wide extending from California to Texas on the U.S. side of the border. The aerial photography is virtually completed and the images are being digitized for use by the GIS data managers and regional planners. Roughly one-third of the mapping project has been completed.

Under the 1996 agreement with USGS, the Mexican side of the border is being mapped by the National Institute for Statistics, Geography and Informatics (INEGI). They are currently concentrating on aerial photography of the urban centers and protected areas along the border and expect to complete the full aerial survey in 1997. The Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) has provided a grant for a part of the Mexican border survey.

Upon the completion of the USGS and INEGI project, important tools will be on hand to create the first comprehensive bi-national resource map and GIS for the border region. As that project proceeds, TRIP is encouraging development of transboundary data that can be displayed spatially as "layers" on a resource map. Those include airsheds, water resources, recreational resources and weather systems.

The Texas General Land Office serves as the General Secretariat of TRIP. For more information call (512) 305-8996; fax: (512) 463-6311; email eferguso@glo.state.tx.us. TRIP's home page on the WWW is available at http://www.glo.state.tx.us/infosys/gis/trip.