Abstract

Modeling Timber Appraisal Values on Native Trust Land
Track: Tribal/Indigenous GIS Programs
Authors: Carl Hardzinski

This presentation outlines the business process used by the Bureau of Indian Affairs Midwest Regional Office geospatial program to create information for modeling timber appraisal values for a land consolidation project for Minnesota Chippewa Tribes. Geospatial data sets for forest inventory and ownership existed and were in use for operations support. The process followed a sequence of steps to build classification tables of forest types within specific ownership tracts. Because the data sets had a number of "issues, the presentation summarizes the magnitude of these problems and solutions used to overcome them. The use of geospatial techniques was critical because the ownership tracts numbered over 1300 on multiple reservations. The process has potential impact for use with a program under the Indian Land Consolidation Act, a nationwide initiative to reduce fractionated owner interests on 55 million acres of land held in Trust for Native Peoples.