Abstract
Youth Volunteers Leading to a Higher Education Geospatial Program
Track: Lightning Talk - Teaching
Authors: Bonnie Brown
In 2008 Concordia University, Texas moved its entire campus from downtown Austin to a site in western Travis County. The new property contained part of the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve. This portion of the preserve had never been mapped for biological, geological and anthropological resources.
Under Concordia student leadership, youth volunteers and geospatial professionals have come together to identify and map and these resources in order to protect them and to learn from them.
The results of this mapping project are allowing natural resource professionals to identify mating zones for the migratory bird species, golden-cheek warbler and black-capped vireo. The results are also allowing Concordia faculty to develop educational programs around the Preserve.
Finally, this project has resulted in interest in geospatial technology. One of the outcomes is Concordia's current development of its first GIS course to be taught sometime in the next 12 months.
Volunteers. Nature. Endangered Species. Partnership