Through its Conservation Leadership Project, The Conservation Fund brings together professionals from industry, government, academia and the nonprofit sector for collaborative learning in advanced technical and leadership skills. As part of The Conservation Leadership Project, The Conservation Fund has been asked by the Department of the Interior to develop curriculum for the new National Conservation Training Center (NCTC) in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. The Conservation Fund's GIS Program has been asked to coordinate the development of courses aimed at applying cutting-edge conservation planning tools, such as geographical information systems.
Currently, the Conservation Fund's GIS Program is developing a course on using GIS as a decision support tool to promote regional conservation planning solutions. The course will address issues related to conservation GIS development (e.g. user needs assessment, GIS system configuration, and GIS data acquisition) as well as those related to GIS project design (e.g. conservation planning principles and process issues). The course also will include case studies of successful conservation GIS projects that have utilized GIS within a consensus-based planning process to support positive conservation outcomes.
The Conservation Fund hopes that this course will help conservation professionals from industry, government, academia, and the nonprofit sectors develop partnerships to design successful regional conservation planning projects using GIS to facilitate land use decision making. After feedback from the NCTC and other government agencies, Esri User Conference attendees, corporate GIS users, Land Trust Alliance members, and others, we will be offering the inaugural course at the NCTC January 20-23, 1998.
The Conservation Fund, a private nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing land and water conservation, works with businesses, other nonprofits and public agencies to protect America's special places. In accordance with its dual charter - integrating economic vitality and environmental conservation - the Fund seeks sustainable conservation solutions for the 21st century.
Through its Conservation Leadership Project, The Conservation Fund brings together professionals from industry, government, academia and the nonprofit sector for collaborative learning in advanced technical and leadership skills. As part of The Conservation Leadership Project, The Conservation Fund has been asked by the Department of the Interior to develop curriculum for the new National Conservation Training Center (NCTC) in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. This new $127 million Center will offer training, education, and leadership development programs to prepare tomorrow's land and water conservation professionals.
The Conservation Fund uses cutting-edge geographic information systems (GIS) mapping technology to craft land and water conservation solutions that promote economic and ecological sustainability. Using GIS as a starting point, the Fund engages communities in developing a shared vision of land use, economic development, and natural resource protection.
Through the development of innovative, user-friendly interfaces, The Conservation Fund has made the power of GIS as a decision support tool available to non-technical audiences. Through a user-friendly interface, community stakeholders faced with complex land use issues can use GIS to integrate conservation science and human values through interactive, real time comparisons of alternative land use scenarios. This powerful GIS technology, coupled with the Fund's technical expertise - sustainable community development, economic capacity building and land use planning - supports community driven efforts across the nation to protect cultural, historic, and natural resources.
As a component of the Conservation Leadership Project, The Conservation Fund's GIS Program has undertaken development of curriculum to bring cutting edge GIS tools to a wider conservation audience. Historically, there have been many barriers that have prevented GIS from becoming a useful tool for community based conservation - prohibitive costs, the level of technical complexity and lack of training specific to conservation applications of GIS. Through Esri's generosity and through consortium efforts such as the Conservation Technology Support Program, GIS hardware and software have become more widely available. The goal of the Fund's GIS curriculum initiative is to bridge the remaining gaps by offering training and technical assistance to community based conservation organizations.
The Conservation Fund's GIS Program is currently developing the first course of its conservation GIS curriculum, entitled GIS Design for Regional Conservation Planning. The goals of this course are:
The Conservation Fund hopes that this course will help conservation professionals from the nonprofit, government, and corporate sectors to use GIS for successful regional conservation planning projects. The course will debut at the NCTC January 20-23, 1998. After modification, based on the review of the prototype, The Conservation Fund hopes to continue to offer this course at the NCTC as well as other regional sites across the country.
The course topics are divided into three modules as follows: Module I: Conservation GIS Project Design
Module II: Conservation GIS Development
Module III: Conservation GIS Project Implementation
The course will be taught by conservation professionals from The Conservation Fund, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the University of Florida, and Pacific Meridian Resources who have successfully developed and designed regional conservation planning systems. The hands-on GIS sessions will be taught in NCTC's state-of-the-art GIS lab, equipped with 18 Windows NT Pentiums running Esri ArcInfo and ArcView software.
Topic 1: Regional Conservation Planning Process Issues
As GIS systems become more powerful, user friendly, and affordable, they become available to a wider range of citizens. This access to GIS provides to the public unprecedented resources to support their participation in policy debates and land use decision making. Successful regional conservation planning projects have used GIS as a tool to build understanding of diverse viewpoints, to explore value conflicts and to build a consensus on conservation solutions. These projects have involved meticulous constituency building of public and private stakeholders, formulation of effective communication and fundraising strategies, and facilitation of planning processes to improve land use decision making.
This course will define what a regional conservation planning project entails and will explore successful methods for bringing stakeholders to the table and managing conservation planning processes. The course will highlight as case studies The Conservation Fund's Loxahatchee Greenway Project and Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie Project as well as examples of the use of GIS as a decision support tool to minimize value conflicts and to build consensus on a set of conservation planning solutions.
Topic 2: Regional Conservation Planning Principles
Regional conservation planning projects should utilize the best available scientific information to identify and protect significant natural resources and to ensure the viability of both human and natural communities. Advancement in the fields of landscape ecology and conservation biology have lead to a greater understanding of the importance of protecting buffer areas, wildlife corridors, and other landscape characteristics essential for healthy, functioning ecosystems.
This course will introduce students to how these landscape-scale conservation planning principles can be incorporated into a consensus-based planning process that ensures protection of significant natural areas and human communities. The course will help illustrate the integration of science and values through discussion of The Conservation Fund's Loxahatchee Greenways Project and the State of Florida's Greenways Decision Support Model.
Topic 1: User Needs Assessment
The design and implementation of a regional conservation planning GIS system is a significant undertaking. Although the acquisition of GIS hardware and software are thought to be the key steps in implementing a GIS, experience has shown that these issues are not what determine whether a GIS implementation will succeed or fail (Aronoff, 1991).
A user needs assessment documents an organization's existing resource base for handling spatial information, anticipates future needs, and evaluates system options to meet these needs. The critical first step in developing a successful conservation planning project is identifying the organization's precise conservation planning and management objectives and determining the organization's desired planning outcomes and products. From a thorough understanding of these needs the organization can then proceed to the selection of an appropriate in-house GIS hardware and software system or a partnership with a GIS service provider. The user needs assessment will also take into consideration the people needed to operate the GIS system, an integral and yet largely forgotten component of GIS implementation (Congalton and Green, 1992).
This course will help students ask the right questions prior to the large-scale investment of resources in a GIS system and will provide examples of successful user needs assessments undertaken by conservation organizations.
Topic 2: GIS System Configuration: Hardware, Software, Training
The capabilities and costs of GIS software and hardware vary greatly. In addition, staff training costs vary greatly depending upon the hardware and software platforms selected. In some cases, new investment in hardware and software might not even be necessary if a project partner has an existing, adequate system.
This course will discuss the important factors that should be considered when reviewing GIS hardware, software, and training options. The course also will highlight opportunities for leveraging project partners' resources.
Topic 3: GIS Data Acquisition, Development, and Documentation
In order for a GIS system to be successfully used in decision making, the quality of GIS data must be predictable and known (Aronoff, 1991). It also is extremely important that GIS data is accurate enough to support land use decision making at an appropriate scale. In addition, when data is collected and distributed, it is important for consumers of maps and data to understand the strengths and limitations of the information provided. The Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) has developed a set of guidelines and procedures for the collection, use, and distribution of digital spatial data, including the types and formats of information that must be distributed. This course will introduce students to the core data elements of regional conservation planning projects. In addition, the course will provide an overview of GIS and remote sensing data resources available through federal, state, and local agencies, and private vendors. The course will highlight as case studies the data collection efforts of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Cookeville, Tennessee field station and the development of the Florida Geographic Data Library. The course also will provide an overview of the FDGC metadata standards and illustrate methods used to organize a set of digital spatial data.
Topic 1: Successful Regional Conservation Planning Projects Using GIS
Following the first two days of conservation GIS project design and development, the course will be primarily devoted to illustrating the use of GIS as a decision support tool to support sustainable conservation solutions. The course will introduce students to cartographic techniques and standards, conservation GIS analysis techniques, graphical user interfaces, and formal decision support models developed using Esri Arc Macro Language (AML) and Avenue.
Case examples will include The Conservation Fund's Loxahatchee Greenways Project, the Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie project, the USFWS Cookeville field station's Interactive Wetlands Atlas, and the State of Florida's Greenways Decision Support Model. In addition, the course will provide plenty of opportunities for students to network and enlist the support of classmate's in their efforts to implement successful regional conservation planning projects.
In the process of developing the GIS Design for Regional Conservation Planning course, The Conservation Fund is actively seeking feedback from a wide variety of audiences, including the government agencies, conservation GIS users, corporate GIS users, and land trusts. By presenting this course outline at the Esri User's Conference, we hope to gain valuable insight that will enable us to modify the course to better achieve its goals.
The Conservation Fund welcomes input regarding the development of the GIS Design for Regional Conservation Planning course, as well as insights into the GIS training needs of conservation organizations in general. To offer input, please contact the authors of this paper at The Conservation Fund's Research Triangle Office in North Carolina at (919) 967-2223.
The goal of The Conservation Fund's GIS initiative is to build the capacity of the land conservation movement to use the power of GIS to improve land conservation planning. We believe that development of GIS training specifically focused on conservation issues is critical to develop the GIS capacity of community based conservation organizations. Through this curriculum, The Conservation Fund hopes to bridge the gaps that have historically prevented GIS from being a widely-used land conservation tool. The GIS Design for Regional Conservation Planning course discussed in this paper is our first step towards this goal. In addition, these training courses will provide an important forum for conservation GIS users to make connections and to learn from one another's experiences.
The Conservation Fund would like to recognize the contributions of the many partners who have made this GIS curriculum project possible. In particularly, we are indebted to the generosity of Esri, Hewlett-Packard, and the Conservation Technology Support Program. In March 1996, The Conservation Fund received a grant from the Conservation Technology Support Program (CTSP), Hewlett-Packard (HP), Environmental Systems Research Institute (Esri), and the Smithsonian's Conservation Research Center (CRC). The Fund received an HP 9000/C110 UNIX Workstation and DesignJet 750C plotter, Esri's ArcInfo and ArcView software, and training from HP in UNIX system administration, Esri in using ArcInfo and ArcView, and CRC in conservation applications of GIS. This GIS system, located in the Fund's Research Triangle Office in North Carolina, has greatly enhanced the Fund's ability to provide conservation GIS technical assistance to the corporate, government, academic, and nonprofit sectors.
In addition we would like to acknowledge the support of the following partners:
Aronoff, Stan. Geographical Information Systems: A Management Perspective. WDL Publications. Ottawa, Canada, 1991.
Congalton, Russell G. and Kass Green. The ABCs of GIS. Journal of Forestry. Vol. 90(11), November 1992.
William L. Allen
GIS Director
The Conservation Fund
Research Triangle, NC Office
P.O. Box 271
Chapel Hill, NC 27514
Telephone: 919-967-2223
Fax: 919-967-9702
E-mail: allentcf@aol.com
Cheryl L. Crupi
GIS Community Projects Manager
The Conservation Fund
Research Triangle, NC Office
P.O. Box 271
Chapel Hill, NC 27514
Telephone: 919-967-2223
Fax: 919-967-9702
E-mail: clcrupi@aol.com