WLIA Fall Regional Meeting

Long used in larger conservation organizations to enhance their work, GIS is now being applied productively by smaller conservation organizations who previously lacked the resources to do little more than create some occasional maps. Learn how GIS is helping Wisconsin land trusts and the Lake Superior Reserve to carry out their missions. Gathering Waters has created a statewide database of all members' interests in land that feeds a dashboard, allowing staff, elected officials and the public to see and explore the cumulative conservation impact of land trusts across the state. Further, Landmark Conservancy, working with Gathering Waters and The Nature Conservancy, is refining their proactive land conservation practices to focus on "resilient and connected landscapes" to create focus areas for future projects by using GIS to bring together a wealth of data, in particular TNC's Resilient and Connected Landscapes data. Finally, you will hear how GIS is being applied to several projects for the Lake Superior Reserve, including detailed habitat mapping, developing a 5-year management plan, and creating a "site profile" for the Reserve.