Abstract
Engaging a Lake Community to Prioritize Shore Land Resources
Track: Ecology and Conservation
Author(s): Douglas Miskowiak, Ben Niemann
Who owns the Moose Lake Shorelines and how are they being managed? A small group of interested citizens and the Couderay Waters Regional Land Trust set out to utilize GIS to address questions like these. The results were surprising. An inventory of the shoreline revealed 22 miles of additional shoreline and over 20 ‘lost’ islands. Citizens inventoried and attached various indices as attributes to the near shoreline. These included: wildlife, aesthetic beauty, ecological integrity, development, aquatic macrophytes, woody structure, and invasive species.
The value of GIS to map shore land resources was clear: Shore land resources cannot be effectively managed without knowing what resources exists, their condition, and who owns them. Equipped with this information and ArcGIS these citizens have articulated the ecological and aesthetic significance of Moose Lake shoreline resources and developed an island protection strategy that is negotiating agreements with such actors as Excel Energy and the USFS.
Douglas Miskowiak
University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point
800 Reserve Street
College of Natural Resources
Stevens Point , Wisconsin 54481
United States
Phone: 7153464989
Fax: 7153464038
E-mail: doug.miskowiak@uwsp.edu
Ben Niemann
UW-Madison
10486 N Pine Point
Hayward , Wisconsin 54643
United States
Phone: 7154623141
Fax: 7153464038
E-mail: sue.niemann@gmail.com