Abstract

Paper
Historic Trail Mapping in Sierra Nevada Mountains of Northern California
Track: Teaching with GIS in Higher Education
Authors: Betty Smith

A pedagogical technique that can be generalized for use with other students, GPS and GIS are used for teaching cartography, projections and spatial concepts as they relate to a historic firebreak and transportation route called Ponderosa Way in northern California. Ponderosa Way was an 800 mile long firebreak planned to protect the big timber at high elevations from brush fires started in the foothills. Constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) during the Depression, the U.S. Army became interested in Ponderosa Way during World War II as an alternate transportation route for tanks in the event of a west coast invasion by Japanese. Undergraduate students during August 2010 explored a 57 mile stretch of the firebreak using GPS and located four drainage basin crossings on digital topographic maps. Photos, maps and local knowledge help us understand the historical significance of this rugged route that passes through private and public lands.