11/21/2021

Office of the President

Twamley Hall Rm 300, UND
264 Centennial Dr. Stop 8193
Grand Forks, ND 58202

Dear President Andrew Armacost,

As students of various majors from the University of North Dakota with an interest in the
environment, we are pleased to present this proposal to form a group with a focus on monitoring the local
environment and shifts in the climate. The primary focuses of our group’s monitoring will be data
involving soil erosion, air quality, the levels of CO2 emissions, and the effect of those emissions on
weather and climate. We will use the data we collect to map out any climate trends that can be found in
our area and use that data to make future projections for our city’s environmental condition. Data
collected from environmental monitoring can be used to form a baseline for existing conditions that can
have an effect on the output of crops, the availability of certain energy sources, and the over-all health of
the local population. We plan to keep this project local at first, focusing mostly on Grand forks and the
farmland in the surrounding area, but we hope to one day branch out and monitor the environment in the
entire Red River Valley and then the state of North Dakota as a whole.

The main goal of this club is to give students hands-on experience in data analysis and computing
as well as gain an understanding of general agronomics and technological sampling. This experience will
be very beneficial to students who want to go into environmental fields such as agronomics, geosciences,
environmental engineering, atmospheric science, ecology, and much more where the skills learned will
help them excel. Another goal of this organization is to keep the Grand Forks locals informed of our
current environmental situation. Eventually, we would like to set up a web page where we will post our
findings for anyone to look at or use. This information can be repurposed by various businesses in the
area as well, especially businesses in the agriculture field. Because our group will be keeping an eye on
the current state of the climate as well as making future projections, farmers will be able to keep tabs on
the area in which their land resides.

In order to create the Enviro-Agro Club, we are respectively requesting a meeting with you or a
committee from the Student Involvement Office and $40,000 to fund our program. During the meeting,
we will go over further details pertaining to the project as well as expand on how this project will be
beneficial not only to the school and students, but also the agricultural businesses around Grand Forks.
The funds provided will be used to buy drone and data processing equipment as well as pay for
transportation. Any left-over funding will be put away to be used in the case of needing equipment
repairs.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,
The Enviro-Agro Club Proposal Group
 Looking Out for North Dakota’s Climate
The Enviro-Agro Club

Founding a campus organization with a focus on environmental monitoring using

aviation technology

Proposed by: Lance Johnson, Thomas Maitre, Nicolle Peterson, Andrew Sparks, & Joshua
Zelinski
 Executive Summary
Using a $40,000 budget we feel like we can begin the research necessary to accommodate the

technology to provide relief in our efforts to rehabilitate and monitor the environment. The club

will be student based and located on campus with the use of campus resources and then some.

The club's research will benefit the surrounding agriculture community by providing information

valuable to future crops and industry. The research will also benefit the efforts in aiding a

healthy, sustainable environment.

PROPOSAL

To address the founding of our club the following steps need to be procured:

1. Initiate club founding. The club will need to be founded and chartered through

the Student Involvement office here at University of North Dakota. If all demands

are met, the club will begin its founding which includes going to state legislature

meetings to request state funding.

2. Ordering requisite technology. Standard operating requires the use of specific

software, drones, and other necessary tools. The software will need to be analytic

software designed to obtain and filter material. This software will help aid the

software development process. Drones will be a necessary tool to capture the

material that will be analyzed. Specific drones will be announced in more detail

along with other forms of technology.

3. Funding disbursement. A sum of $40,000 will be necessary to initiate and

cover operating costs, marketing, technology, transportation, and other unplanned

expenses.

4. Project timeline. The club’s timeline will appear in the order as seen in the

project timeline. The timeline has been well understood and will be an efficient use
 of time and resources. The timeline has been understood by the founders of this club,

the dates are accurate granted everything occurs accordingly.

5. Future initiatives. The club will begin locally but seeks expansion to serve the

environment on a much broader scale. The club would like to see success here in

Grand Forks North Dakota, but the club may need to be expanded upon. More

funding will be needed. Moving out of state to other areas of need. If all success is

met, the club may become a separate field of education.

RISKS

The success of the club will be dependent on student involvement, proper funding, functional

equipment, and community.

1. Student involvement. Student involvement is crucial to the success of the club

and the movement. Without students, there will never be a club. It will be difficult to

get students to dedicate enough time to the club. Inflexibility will result in poor

student attendance. We will need varying specialties and educators for training.

Without the proper education we won’t be able to meet the clubs intended goals.

2. Proper funding. Funding is the second most essential element of this club.

Without the proper funding, we may lose student engagement due to improper

marketing. If referred technology fails, it needs to be fixed. Without funding to fix

said equipment, the club loses the technology conducting the research.

3. Functional equipment. The equipment will need to be always in operating

condition. Delays may occur in shipping, improper education on repairs, and wrong

equipment orders.
 4. Community collaboration. The community is essential to the club’s progress. In

the beginning stages we will need the community to be supportive and accepting of

our research. Varying crops and fertilizers may only be accessed by the farmers'

assistance. This assistance will allow us access to their lands where we will conduct

our research.

RECOMMENDATION

For this club to be successful, we will need this initial funding as well as future funding for

operating and travel. We will need the club to be properly marketed with additional incentives to

keep student involvement high. The equipment will always need to be operational therefore the

need for additional parts and proper maintenance will be crucial. The club needs to properly

inform farmers and get a number of fields available for research. Education is the make or break

in this club. Communication will be vital to its success.

Review of Literature

Technology is ever advancing and is improvising many daily tasks that we do on a basis.

Technology has not only improved our way of life but it has also helped advance our careers by

making tasks possible that were impossible not that long ago. There are lots of examples but

today we will be focusing on the way it has helped the agriculture workforce and why it is

important to utilize the new and improving methods of farming. Some of these methods would

include using aviation to help with monitoring soil qualities,crop growth and crop dusting. While

using aviation to help current farming tasks it also gives the farmers the opportunity to look

ahead into the future to predict what their fields or the surrounding farmland will need in terms

of soil erosion, fertilizing, tillage and many other factors. Quality farmland is what North Dakota
is known for so by taking action now and protecting it, we can build a bigger and more

prosperous future for North Dakota.

Benefits of Aviation Tech for Environmental Monitoring

Drones are relatively new technology so their benefits are uncovered everyday. Such

benefits include, wildlife monitoring, disaster relief, reforestation, and others. Wildlife

monitoring with a drone is very helpful to those looking for a particular animal. For instance the

dangerous animals that a human would keep its distance from, a drone can get right up and close

without putting anyone in danger. The drone is able to cover large swaths of area that is left

untouched by human interaction. The environment gets to stay in its original condition and

human lives don’t need to be at risk. Disaster relief can be a useful position for a drone. The

drone will be able to cover a large area quickly all while doing scans to find injured people and

animals. The drones are also able to get a birds eye view of the ground below it so it can follow

natural disasters from a safe distance away. It can see the destruction to the environment.

Reforestation is completely innovated with the latest drone technology. The latest drone

technology is able to carry tree seeds to large deforested areas either caused by natural reasons or

by deforestation, these places can be remote, and hard to reach areas. The drones drop a seed

grenade and then thousands of seeds are thrown all over the forest floor or field.

Agricultural Benefits of Environmental Monitoring

The use of active monitoring to improve agriculture has a long and rich history, which is

to be expected given that the practice of farming is as old as civilization itself. For the purposes

of this proposal, however, we shall focus specifically on the practice of soil sample analysis.

Around the turn of the 20th century, scientists were beginning to discover that the presence or
absence of certain chemical compounds in the soil led to better or worse yields, in addition to

affecting crop resistance. For example, it was discovered that the increased presence of ammonia

in the soil, and thus increased presence of nitrogen, resulted in dramatically greater yields from

crops. However, it was not until the invention of the Haber process of ammonia production in the

early 20th century that fertilization began to incorporate this. By monitoring the amount of

nitrogen available in soil, farmers around the world could add the new fertilizer to the areas of

their fields that needed it the most. Thus, enormous gains in productivity may be realized, as in

the case of corn yields per acre. In 1950, the average yield per acre was 50 bushels, whereas

today that number has increased to 170 bushes per acre.

This increase is utterly astounding, however there are limitations to the current process.

Agronomists must drive out to isolated fields, collect samples, and then return to the lab for

analysis, the results of which have to be formally prepared and sent to the concerned farmer. The

process is slow, it is clunky, and it does not allow for a great deal of flexibility. For example,

while crop rotation

Sources used:
https://inthefurrow.com/2017/10/05/soil-testing/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haber_process
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrogen_fixation
(Wikipedia articles are placeholders for more primary sources of information)

The Effects of Climate Change in ND - Importance of Localized Monitoring

According to an article from the Climate Nexus, North Dakota’s climate has been

changing for the worst in the last century, and it’s expected to continue in this way unless action
is taken soon. Most notably, they clarify, is a growing intensity in annual rainfall and

increasingly hotter summers. They predict that this will negatively impact the yield of most crops

that are typically grown around the state. The ND Association of State Wetland Management,

ASWM, states that the state has seen some of the most “dramatic” effects of climate change in

the entire nation, with its annual temperature increase going up by almost 0.26 degrees

Fahrenheit every decade. The ASWM also makes it clear that no action has been made by the

state to change this. There is little environmental monitoring going on within the state as well,

apart from that done by the US Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, which is an executive

agency under the US government that has 27 laboratories nationwide with a focus on

environmental protection.

With none of EPA’s laboratories being stationed in North Dakota, however, their data is

mostly from sensors, calculations and satellites. It’s important to monitor an environment that

you interact with, so you can get the entire picture. According to Finn Danielsen et. al in their

study, localized monitoring is essential in delivering credible data and can be “used to inform

local and national decision making within a shorter timeframe. They believe that this is because

scientist-led monitoring is too expensive and sparse. Most importantly, however, with remote

censoring, it’s harder to detect when something has been measured incorrectly. With localized

monitoring, the data gains credibility mostly by the fact that they are at location and are

receiving data right away or with miniscule delay.

The Process of Environmental Monitoring - How it All Works

 So how does this process of monitoring the environment work? It’s easy enough to make

claims about all the amazing things we can do with the technology, but none of it means anything

if we can’t provide real-world examples of how these measures are achieved. At the most

fundamental level, these drones work by capturing images of the soil with different wavelengths

of light, which reflect different essential minerals to agriculture.

Stopping Negative Trends - How Scientist Can Use This Data

Environmental monitoring is essential to turning the tide of our war against climate

change. According to an article on the OmniSci Team’s website, this monitoring has a huge list

of benefits and advantages that can have a huge impact on the world around us and it’s helping

us “develope a proactive relationship with the Earth” by providing us with enough data for

scientists to identify trends, predict future outcomes, and even recognize the warning signs of

negative climate effects earlier on. From air and water quality counter-measures to even restoring

damaged farmland and lowering the emissions of carbon in energy and power production,

environmental monitoring is crucial in reversing the negative effects of climate change and

preparing for shifts in our environment.

Proposed Project

Group/Club that will collect data on soil erosion, air quality, CO2 levels and its effect on

weather and climate. This will be done by using drones to collect said data by using thermal

sensors and camera imagery during and after growing season to pinpoint areas of low growth

rate to find out if the problem is manageable. We will then take collected data and put it on a

website where any interested party can view it. This will give the farmers or anyone interested a
way to help each other out with yield problems and offer solutions. Also by collecting CO2 data

we can also troubleshoot different crops that could lower levels of CO2. They can use this data

to prepare for future harvests, realty opportunities, and what their business can do to help reduce

negative effects to the local environment.The club would monitor local farm lands and industrial

expansion along with highly populated areas like the Red River Valley. The club would consist

of Aviation, agriculture,meteorology, environment based careers and computer oriented students

or anyone that is interested in the matter. This would give the group members experience in their

field of choice which would greatly benefit them in getting a job that requires prior experience.

Discussion of Outcome

The proposed organization will have many benefits for members of the Grand Forks

community. The implementation of localized environmental monitoring through students at the

University of North Dakota will benefit the community by:

● Giving the students hands-on experience in various subjects such as data analysis,

computing and technological sampling. Especially for students going into

environment-focused fields such as agronomics and atmospheric sciences, knowing how

to work with the equipment we will be handling as well as how to work with and

manipulate data is very important.

● Hands-on experience for students. In the enviro-agro club, all students will be able to

learn from and interact directly with all of our equipment, and all members will have

roles in gathering and analyzing data collected. In any field, hands-on experience can

encourage students to think critically and really dive into their subject matter. Students

usually retain more information from this type of environment and are prompted to ask
 questions, make observations and interact with their data physically to fully grasp what’s

happening. According to Jonathan Arnholz in his article on hands-on learning, this is

because the student is engaging both sides of the brain - “Listening and analyzing occur

in the left hemisphere, but visual and spatial processes are handled on the right.” They

further statement but clarifying that students’ ability to recall the information comes from

a stronger connection with any relevant information that comes to light during their

studies.

● Promote students and locals to become proactive in helping the environment. One of

the most important focuses of our group is to get the people of Grand Forks - and

hopefully one day people from all over the US - to gain a more proactive mindset for the

environment. Too often, we see people throwing garbage and cigarette buds out of their

car windows and leaving everything from fast-food bags to printers on the side of the

road because they think they have nowhere to put it. The people that do this usually have

no regard for the environment or know little about the true impacts these supposedly

“small” acts can have on it. We’re hoping by spreading awareness and keeping our data

open to the public will help them keep the environment in their minds and their hearts

moving forward.

● Keep Grand Forks informed and spread awareness of ND climate change. According

to the Yale Map Project on Climate Change, only 69% of ND residents actually recognize

global warming in the state. Our goal is to help the people of the Grand Forks community

understand what’s happening and to become more aware of the effects our climate is

under at any given time. Being aware of the situation can help them better prepare for the

changes projected, especially if they’re related to the agriculture field.

 ● Have information available for agricultural businesses to help with various factors

in their work. Continuing on from the last benefit, it is extremely important for

agricultural businesses to be aware of the changes in the environment. Factors such as the

yield of crops, the health of the soil, and even the availability of water can become an

issue under certain conditions affected by shifts in our state’s climate

Budget

Price

Drones $8,300 * 4

Transportation $3.17/gal

Car Rental $0.553/und rate per mile/hr

Electricity $10c/kWh

Marketing $0.05c/page

Food $13.99/pizza

Drones/Drone technology

Due to the nature of our project, the majority of our expenditures will come from climate

monitoring drones and the associated costs of that technology. For the task of data collection we

have opted to use the DJI Smarter Farming Package which costs roughly 8,300 USD. We decided

to acquire four of these as it would allow for a reasonable amount of information collection on

nearby environmental statistics.

Transportation
At the time of writing, gas prices were an average of 3.17/gal. We estimate that we will need to

drive an average of 100 miles for each destination of data collection, which, given the estimated

mpg of the car we will rent from UND (19 mpg), which has each trip costing approximately $34

not including the rental prices for the vehicle.

Car Rental

According to UND’s website, the cost to rent our car of choice (6-door suburban), it costs $0.553

mile/hr to rent the vehicle. Assuming an average speed of 60mph per trip and a distance of 100

miles, that has an average cost of $2 per trip.

Electricity

Naturally it is going to cost electricity to charge the drones and run any potential

servers/computers. The electricity cost for UND averages roughly 10c/kWh, so that is the

number we went with.

Food

While it may seem a little silly, the students who choose to go with this club to each destination

for data collection are likely going to need to eat while they are out. Obviously pizza is not what

they will be eating every single time, but it is a pretty good indicator of the cost of food for the

students.

Marketing

Another key part of this organization is going to be advertising, after all, we will need to get the

word out about our club one way or another. The primary way we are going to do this will be

through paper advertising, which costs roughly 5c per page for a color document. Assuming we
print about 50 pages, that would give us a cost of roughly $2.50 for our advertising. We would

also be sending out emails, but that cost fits more in line with electricity.

Project Timeline
First, a club would have to be chartered and founded through the Student Involvement

office here at UND. Funding may be procured by petitioning the state legislature during the

appropriate time in the state’s biennial legislature, the next legislative session starting January of

2023. A quicker possible source for funding would be petitioning the Student Organization

Funding Agency (SOFA). They meet every Tuesday at 4pm during the regular school year. Once

our proposed budget is approved and funding received, we would then be able to order the

requisite technology for the club. A suitable drone, perhaps some analysis software until we

develop our own, etc.

December 20th, 2021 - submit this proposal to the UND student government for approval

January 14th, 2022- receive approval, organize and charter a club with the Student Involvement

office.

February 1st, 2022- Apply for SOFA funding, and hopefully receive it by the end of the month.

March 7th, 2022- order the needed equipment, in the meantime begin familiarizing club

members with the analysis software we will use, using publicly available images to test.

April 15th, 2022-hardware finally arrives due to delays from Covid-19, spend the month further

familiarizing club members with the controls and what to look for as we wait for the weather to

improve.

May 29th, 2022- begin field trials, recording data and analyzing it while taking our own field

measurements to test accuracy of our software.

Concluding Statement

The new club will prove in due time to be useful to the university and to the surrounding

community and its landowners. The technology discussed in our research can make a change in

the way we farm our lands by keeping track of the resources used and how they can be used in

the most efficient way possible. In turn the crops will yield lower cost per acre and increase

profits. This agro-aviation industry is growing every year and will continue to develop in the

future hopefully impacted by our work here at the University of North Dakota. Along with the

essential need for resources to be used wisely, the technology monitoring the environment may

be useful to the surrounding ecosystems. Thank you for taking the time to review our club. We

hope you consider this innovative use of technology.

 References

Arnholz, Jonathan. (2019). Is Hands-on Learning Better? Build Your Future.

https://byf.org/is-hands-on-learning-better/

Adam Shore, et al. (2020). Drones Will Help Save the Environment. Here's How: Dronegenuity,

https://www.dronegenuity.com/ways-drones-help-save-the-environment/.

Association of State Wetland Managers. (2018). Climate Change Adaptation - North Dakota.

ASWM Association Website.

https://www.aswm.org/wetland-science/81-climate-change-adaptation-summaries/1175-cl

imate-change-adaptation-north-dakota

Badh, A., Akyuz, A., Vocke, G., Mulins, B. (2009). Impact of Climate Change on the Growing

Seasons in Select Cities of North Dakota, USA. International Journal of Climate

Change: Impacts and Responses, Vol 1, No 1, Pg 105-118.

https://www.cabdirect.org/cabdirect/abstract/20103168991

ClimateNexus. (2021). North Dakota’s Agriculture Industry is Vulnerable to Climate Change.

ClimateNexus Organization.

https://climatenexus.org/climate-change-us/state-impacts/north-dakota/
Danielsen, F., Enghoff, M., Poulsen, M.K., Funder, M., Jensen, P.M., Burgess, N.D. (2021). The

Concept, Practice, Application, and Results of Locally Based Monitoring of the

Environment. BioScience, Vol 71, Issue 5, Pg 484-502.

https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biab021

EPA in North Dakota. (2021). Environmental Information for North Dakota. United States

Environmental Protection Agency. epa.gov/nd/environmental-information-north-dakota

Marlon, Jennifer et al. (2020). Yale Climate Opinion Maps 2020. Yale Program on Climate

Change Communication.

https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/visualizations-data/ycom-us/

OmniSci Team. (2021). How Real-Time Environmental Monitoring Systems are Improving Our

Relationship with the Planet. OmniSci.

https://www.omnisci.com/blog/how-real-time-environmental-monitoring-systems-are-im

proving-our-relationship-with-the-planet

Tsui, Jenna. (2020). 4 Ways Drones Are Being Used for Environmental Conservation. Sea Going

Green, Sea Going Green.

https://www.seagoinggreen.org/blog/4-ways-drones-are-being-used-for-environmental-co

nservation.