Twenty-five miles northwest in Berlin, N.H., coalition member Sharon Penney faces a formidable task. The executive director of the Northern White Mountain Chamber of Commerce markets the city to tourists and new businesses. It’s a tough sell. On May 6 the Fraser Paper Company closed the doors of its pulp mill on the banks of the Androscoggin River, sending 250 workers to the unemployment line. A walk down Main Street from Penney’s cheerful office reveals more vacant storefronts than occupied ones and a gigantic shuttered mill looming over the city.

"It is a crisis," says Penney. "Everyone is running around like Chicken Little. There are little towns getting hammered with major issues that affect the very core of what the town is." Penney and the coalition hope to help the region take a deep breath and find ways to protect the identity and economy of their communities. "We hope to see what we want to be and keep integrity," she says.

For several months, the group has been working with a database tool called Participatory Geographic Information Systems (PGIS), guided by the Center for Community GIS in Farmington, Maine. Data collection is straightforward. Participants receive a simplified map of the region and indicate the places on it that mean something to them—a fishing spot, the site of their next housing development, a prime logging area, or a mountain with their favorite view. Mapmakers enter these places into a database, or GIS system, and produce composite maps showing all common areas of interest. Then, says center director Stephen Engle, it becomes possible to investigate the relationships between areas that are recognized for their ecological, economic, and community values. From there, the coalition can show the "values" of the region, on what lands there is a shared desire for conservation, and where conflicts may arise.

Coalition staff and volunteers are stepping up their efforts to collect as much information as they can. Volunteers like Ginger Kelly and Larry Ely are approaching community leaders, local conservationists, developers, recreationists, timber industry officials, and hundreds of residents for their opinions.

"What we ask them is what they most care about. Just asking them is the thing," says Kelly. "We get people to think about being a part of conservation who don’t usually get to say their opinion. I’ve gone to the dump, the fire station, Rotary meetings, and fishing festivals."

The final report will also include more traditional sources like economic indicators and environmental inventories, and will provide a snapshot of all the resources on both sides of the Maine-New Hampshire border. From there, future conservation options can be explored. Ann Ingerson, a research associate with The Wilderness Society, is helping compile much of the report. "It will be a mosaic of natural communities, the state of the forests, the forest products industry, the rate of subdivision, the economic structure, and what’s going on with businesses."

Adds Clendenning, "Mapping is very subjective. People can see their interests quantified. You can then easily come up with potential conservation strategies that already have support if land becomes available."