Agassiz NWR
Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge staff are using the PLGR to record the location of the mobile antenna to obtain telemetry locations of moose and American bitterns. It is also used to record nest locations of American bitterns and bald eagle nest trees.
Contact Information e-mail):
Gary Huschle (use the project leader's e-mail address; anderson, margaret or
margaret_anderson@fws.gov)
Alaska Applications
There were several responses from Alaska. They are listed separately with a contact person for each one.
Forest and Shrubland Birds
Our office is doing a habitat selection study on forest and shrubland birds. The sampling
protocol involves using trails as the centerline of strip plots; the PLGR was used to
create a geographic file which allows the superimposition of the trail locations on
scanned aerial photo images. It was not possible to digitize directly off the photos,
because in many cases the forest canopy obscured the location of the trails.
Contact Information (e-mail):
Philip Martin (martin, philip or philip_martin@fws.gov)
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Predictions of habitat quality for specific animal species
Staff in Region 7 have been doing a variety of interesting things. One project involves recording animal locations with GPS and laptops from aircraft, buffering these locations, intersecting these buffers with Landsat TM derived landcover, and characterizing the landscape about the observed animals (habitat quantification). From the characterized habitat within the buffers staff develop a resource selection function to be used to calculate a probability for other areas to predict their relative habitat quality for that species (habitat mapping).
Contact Information (e-mail):
Jerry Minick, Region 7 GIS Coordinator (minick, jerry or jerry_minick@fws.gov)
Anchorage, Alaska
907-786-3315
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NWI in Alaska
The FWS is examining the use of classified military satellite data to conduct National Wetlands Inventory mapping in Alaska, and is exploring the use of this information to conduct wetlands status and trends studies throughout the U.S. The classified data is also being looked at for other applications, including marine mammal studies.
Contact Information (e-mail):
Jonathan Hall (hall, jonathan or jonathan_hall@fws.gov
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Seabird and Marine Mammal Observations
This office does not yet have one of the accurate units, but several have been ordered. They will be used to locate long-term scientific sampling sites (seabird population plots in the most common case). One will also be attached to a computer aboard the research vessel and used with Delog software to plot observations of seabirds and marine mammals on transects in real time.
Contact Information (e-mail):
Vernon Byrd (byrd, vernon or vernon_byrd@fws.gov)
California Private Lands Office
The California State Private Lands Office just requisitioned a GPS unit, but have not received it yet. The primary plan for it's use is to map out the location of vernal pool wetlands - intermittent seasonal wetlands that range in size from bathtub to lake size. Vernal pool areas can have from 10 to hundreds of vernal pools per acre. Vernal pools also house several threatened and endangered species; the vernal pool fairy shrimp for instance. The shrimp's occurrence and time of hatching is so psoriatic that only 1 or 2 pools in an area will have the shrimp in them. So, it's very important to document which of the pools have the shrimp in them. The GPS will make that much easier.
Also, the California State Fish and Game Department maintains an endangered species database. They are dependent on others to submit reports of endangered species locations or sightings. Another use will be to routinely carrying the GPS unit around so that locations of species can be documented as other field work is being done.
Contact Information (e-mail):
Daniel Strait (strait, daniel or daniel_strait@fws.gov)
Charles M Russell NWR (Black-footed Ferrets)
GIS and GPS have been in use for several years on Charles M Russell NWR (CMR), in the Black-footed Ferret reintroduction program. A brief overview is given here. For more detail, several presentations on the process are listed below. They are in MS Word format, and can be downloaded and perused at your leisure.
Black-footed ferrets are probably the world's rarest mammal. Attempts to reintroduce this endangered species to suitable habitat in Wyoming, South Dakota and Montana have been on-going during the last several years. At least 24 black-footed ferrets, including wild-born kits from last spring, were identified during Montana spotlight surveys in December, 1995. Biologists are encouraged with recent ferret survival and are optimistic that several litters will be produced in the wild next year. Pictures and results of Montana releases will be shown and discussed.
Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) were used extensively during Montana black-footed ferret reintroduction. Applications were quite varied with some being very intense, e.g. the GPS mapping of every prairie dog burrow on over 1,400 acres of prairie dog colonies. Positioning of the radio telemetry system used to monitor ferrets was based on GPS-derived coordinates. Ferret movements, as determined from telemetry and spotlight observations, are being mapped and analyzed with GIS. Many other uses and applications of GPS and GIS to black-footed ferret recovery will be discussed.
Articles to download for more details:
Technical GIS/GPS overview of project
Similar paper, but a bit more mapping orientation
Again, similar, but a bit more biological orientation
Contact Information (e-mail):
Randy Matchett, Wildlife Biologist CMR (matchett, randy or randy_matchett@fws.gov)
Connecticut River Watershed
The Connecticut River Coordinator's Office uses GPS to locate and record the first documented Atlantic salmon holding pools in the Westfield River subdrainage of the Connecticut River. This information is critical to the management and restoration of Atlantic salmon in the Connecticut River watershed.
Contact Information (e-mail):
Michelle Babione (r5ffa_crc.gis or r5ffa_crc.gis@fws.gov)
Connecticut River Coordinator's Office
Delaware Bay Estuary Project
Two separate applications are discussed under the Delaware Bay Estuary Office
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The Delaware Bay Estuary Project (DBEP) is an investigator in the National Gap Analysis
Project in Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey. The principal investigator for this 3-state
project, Maryland DNR Wildlife and Heritage Program, is using 12-band hyper-clustered
Landsat TM imagery (6 bands of late spring - early summer imagery, and 6 bands of fall
foliage imagery - clustered to get, hopefully, the best possible discrimination between
spectral signatures of different veg types). The hyper-clustered imagery will be
classified, using field data and GPS-tagged aerial videography to develop training sites,
according to the community alliance classification (Sneddon et al. 1995) which is a
modification of UNESCO as modified by Driscoll et al. and is being proposed as a standard
for land cover/vegetation classification at the federal level. Delaware Bay Estuary
Project has the lead on developing species distribution maps for all vertebrates and
butterflies that breed in this 3-state area, and will be using this classified landcover
map along with range maps and other layers to develop GIS habitat models that predict
species distributions across this landcover/habitat base map (although existing data will
be used for rare, threatened and endangered species).
DBEP is also using Corvallis MicroTechnology MC-V gps/gis data collectors for collecting field data to aid in accuracy assessment and validation of the vegetation map and predicted species distributions. In addition, we loaned one of these units to the Delaware Natural Heritage Program for their use in getting accurate coordinates for bird point count locations in the Great Cypress Swamp, a 10,000 acre tract of palustrine and upland forest that is very important to forest interior and other birds, and is in need of long term protection.
In summary, the FWS, working with partners in Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey, is using Landsat Thematic Mapper satellite imagery in developing a habitat base map for mapping wildlife distributions in these 3 states in order to identify important habitat areas still in need of protection, and to give land use planners and managers the tools they need to make more informed decisions. In addition, the FWS and its partners are using GPS receivers in the field for accuracy assessment and validation of wildlife distribution and habitat maps, and for obtaining geographic locations of remote bird survey sites within the Great Cypress Swamp which is important to forest interior birds and is in need of long term protection.
Contact Information (e-mail):
Rick McCorkle (mccorkle, richard or richard_mccorkle@fws.gov)
Mickey Hayden (hayden, mickey or mickey_hayden@fws.gov)
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The Delaware Bay Estuary Project (DBEP) has been involved in utilizing GIS as a tool for
biologists since 1991. The second project discussed here was a pilot project focusing on
Section 7 Consultations under the Endangered Species Act. It is a desk-top decision
support system for the New Jersey Field Office (NJFO).
The NJ Pilot has been used for candidate species assessments and recovery efforts for federally listed endangered and threatened species. Specifically, the GIS information has been instrumental in allowing biologists to focus and prioritize survey efforts for candidate and federally listed species. In addition, it has been used to develop Species Conservation Plans. Additional information is available by downloading the following MS Word documents: An overview of the pilot project, njpilot1.doc and Detailed description of the project steps, njpilot2.doc.
Contact Information (e-mail)
Gregory Breese, Senior Staff Biologist - GIS; Delaware Bay Estuary Project
302-653-9152 ( gregory_breese@fws.gov)
Eric Schrading, Fish and Wildlife Biologist; New Jersey Field Office
609-646-0620
South Florida Ecosystem Office
The South Florida Ecosystem Office uses Landsat tm imagery as one of the layers in screening permits and for background information for Section 7 consultations. The vegetative cover from these images has also been used to help define species ranges.
The image data being using was taken in 1985-89 and was limited to 22 habitat classifications. The Florida "GAP" project has completed its landsat classification the southern part of Florida.
Contact Information (e-mail):
Brian Luprek , South Florida Ecosystem Office (luprek, brian or brain_luprek@fws.gov)
LaCrosse Fishery Resources Office
The La Crosse (WI) Fishery Resources Office utilizes the precise positioning service that is broadcast from a constellation of navigational satellites and available to precision lightweight global positioning receiver (PLGR) users. Staff is able to accurately and efficiently document the locations of radio-implanted paddlefish (Polyodon spathula) in the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS) using the PLGRs and standardized radiotelemetry procedures. Position data are then overlaid onto GIS base coverage's to map seasonal paddlefish movements. This information is useful to resource managers in evaluating different habitat rehabilitation and enhancement alternatives for the UMRS and understanding how habitat alterations may affect this protected inter-jurisdictional species.
Contact Information (e-mail):
Mark Steingraeber (steingraeber, mark or mark_steingraeber@fws.gov)
National Wetland Inventory
Use of Spot Data to Update Wetland Trends in Florida
The National Wetlands Inventory (NWI) office in St Petersburg, FL has been testing the utility of satellite data for wetlands change detection. SPOT panchromatic and multispectral data was merged, and used in conjunction with existing wetland maps and aerial photos.
In some cases the satellite data highlighted the vegetation change better than traditional methods, but in others (particularly height differentiation and forested wetland vs forested upland) the interpretation was difficult. The conclusion was that satellite could be very useful in compiling the Status and Trends wetlands change updates, but should be used in conjunction with other data to be most accurate. Use of satellite data to interpret wetland types in areas that had not been previous mapped was not recommended.
This is a very brief summary of a longer report (Technical Report #52), completed for NWI by the Florida Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit. To get a copy of the report, see the contact information below.
Contact Information (e-mail):
Herman Robinson (robinson@enterprise.nwi.fws.gov)
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TRIANGULATION
In the eighteenth century, France became the first nation to benefit from the newly developed science know as triangulation. From the mathematics of geometry, the Vauban school of military engineers developed a more accurate method of laying out fortifications. This newly developed terrestrial science was put to the test of mapping the country with significant results, a more accurate map.
Today, the United States, having benefited from the cultural diffusion of knowledge from European peoples has taken the science of triangulation to new accuracy's. GPS is the lineal descent of both French and later British military engineers work. Today, we use the GPS constellation of space based satellites to provide pinpoint locations on the surface of the earth as well as make maps that are more accurate than any previously made.
To date, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Wetlands Inventory has used GPS as one of a number of modern technologies, to create mapping control. With accurate mapping control, NWI has mapped the wetlands on over 150 military bases around the United States. FWS/NWI has mapped bases as small as 35 acres up to approximately 1 million acres in size. Twelve is the average number of GPS control points created per base during the program. All of the completed work has relied on space based technology in order to provide accurate mapping.
Contact Information (e-mail):
Lee Lyons, Senior Mapping Specialist ( lee@enterprise.nwi.fws.gov)
New England Field Office
During response and preassesment activities during oil spills, The New England Field Office relies heavily on GPS units. During a spill, a large number of samples can be taken, and with all of the various state and federal agencies involved, location of sample collection can be a problem. Having a quick way (within hours) to plot sample collection locations allows the natural resource trustees to identify data gaps before ephemeral data disappears. Additionally, when time-series samples need to be collected (such as water samples from the same cove to see if oil has dispersed into the water column), a different team of samplers can be sent out and know that they collect the sample at the same place it was taken before, eliminating confounding variables. Although not as elegant a use as some others that have been mentioned, the simple use of GPS as a navigation tool to unfamiliar creeks, coves, etc. is one less stress to Service responders in the high stress environment of a spill response.
Contact Information (e-mail):
Andrew "Drew" Major (major, andrew or andrew_major@fws.gov)
Northern California Coastal Office
In Northern California there are several government agency offices with a varying level of GIS capabilities, from PC ArcView operators, to systems primarily used for data development.
The FWS office, Coastal California Fish and Wildlife Office, has implemented an Intra-Agency Agreement with the National Park Service for GIS related support. They will furnish GIS products related for the area (with funding limitations, of course) which will aid in timely completion of Section 7 consultations and technical assistance with other agencies. FWS staff will also gain expertise from NPS personnel in eventually becoming more independent in operating a GIS system.
In conjunction with NPS, FWS will be assembling the infrastructure that will function to store commonly shared GIS layers such as roads, streams, etc. and provide a way for other contributing agencies to access this data. The primary benefits of this concept will be avoiding duplication of efforts, and ensuring that data layers are consistent, i.e. if two agencies are performing an analysis using the streams layer, they are looking at the same layer, with attributes that are useful to both, but created only once. This is a simple concept, but one that many do not seem to have embraced. An MOA for this effort has been signed by several federal and non-federal partners, and the group is called "North Coast Geographic Information Cooperative" (NCGIC).
Contact Information (e-mail):
Greg Goldsmith (goldsmith, greg or greg_goldsmith@fws.gov)
Region 1 - Spotted Owl
Region 1 has used LANDSAT TM data to estimate spotted owl habitat range wide in WA, OR, and CA. This data is used to assess the status of owl ranges, estimating how many spotted owls may benefit from nonfederal habitat present in their home range. This helps staff better gage the effects of the release of that nonfederal habitat via the 4(d) Rule (to be completed any day now).
LANDSAT TM has also been used to assess marbled murrelet habitat. Much of the data used was created for the BLM and USFS, who have shared their data with FWS, eliminating the need for the Federal Government to purchase it twice.
Contact Information (e-mail):
Steve Holzman (holzman, steve or steve_holzman@fws.gov)
Region 2 - Regional Aircraft
From Jim Bredy, Regional Aviation Manager for Region 2:
We are on the cutting edge of developing aerial remote sensing techniques. Our Region 2
aircraft is equipped with a large camera port that has the capacity to be easily
reconfigured as a remote sensing platform with a variety of image collectors. These are
fixed in a gyro/stabilized mount and slaved to the aircraft's GPS system for extremely
accurate data collection and recording. Please contact my aerial photographer/remote
sensing specialist, Al Cilurso, for up to date and more detailed technical information.
Please do not hesitate to call if you need more information at 505-248-6630.
Contact Information (e-mail):
Jim Bredy (bredy, jim or jim_bredy@fws.gov)
Sacramento Environmental Contaminants Division
The Sacramento Environmental Contaminants Division has been using the PLGR in general for marking sample locations for various investigations (the LAT/LON for each sample in the national database must be recorded). More specifically, for one project the office is looking at the selenium levels in shorebird eggs from nests at various distances from selenium contaminated evaporation ponds in the Tulare Basin of CA. To mitigate for impacts one of the recommendations was that alternative wetland habitat be constructed to draw shorebirds away from the evaporation ponds. The wetlands need to be close enough to the evaporation ponds to attract the birds but far enough away so that the birds will use the ponds less, thus getting a lower exposure and less selenium in the eggs. It's a bit more complicated than that but this gives the general idea. If you need more details contact Thomas Maurer (below).
Contact Information (e-mail):
Thomas Maurer (maurer, thomas or thomas_maurer@fws.gov)
Sea Lamprey Control Office
Staff at the Sea Lamprey Control Office have used PLGR units in a number of applications. They have been been used to find remote locations on streams to conduct electro-fishing surveys for larval sea lampreys and nest studies for sterile male lampreys, to mark access trails to remote locations on streams for lampricide application points and to georeference locations where water samples were taken in the St. Marys River during a dye study to gather field data to calibrate a flow model for the river. The flow model will be used to help determine the feasibility of any lampricide treatment in the river. The PLGR was also utilized to georeference areas in some streams and then characterize the larval sea lamprey habitat in these areas to make habitat suitability maps.
In deep water area staff have used them to sample index areas annually with a deepwater electro-shock in the St Marys River. Using the PLGR in conjunction with PC Geolink software, a background map is displayed in real-time, with a sampling grid having 10X20 meter cells. Four samples are taken in each cell. The office is looking to integrate the units into daily activities as much as possible.
Contact Information (e-mail): Michael Fodale, Fishery Biologist, Sea Lamprey Control (fodale, michael or michael_fodale@fws.gov)
Upper Mississippi River NW&FR: LaCrosse and Savanna Districts, Headquarters Office
The La Crosse District of the Upper Mississippi NW&FR uses the PLGR (GPS unit) for many projects. It was just received in the summer of 1996, so the list of uses will probably grow exponentially over time.
Staff have used it to lay out duck hunting closed areas and avoidance areas. It is used to walk the extent of the agricultural hay leases to get accurate acreage displayed on a map for billing. The unit is also used to map trails, mark survey locations and navigate to randomly generated sample points in the Mississippi River
Contact Information (e-mail)
Lara Hill (hill, lara or lara_hill@fws.gov)
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At the Savanna District of the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge
the PLGR is used for a variety of wildlife survey applications. Staff mark the locations
of bald eagle nests, bird point count locations, invertebrate sampling locations,
rail/bittern survey locations, to name a few. The PLGR is also used to locate important
Refuge boundary points; as dynamic as the river system is, many older markers may be under
water or have been washed away..
Contact Information (e-mail):
Ed Britton (britton, ed or ed_britton@fws.gov)
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In the Refuge Headquarters Office, located in Winona MN, the PLGR is also used for
wildlife surveys as listed at the Savanna District. In addition, the units are used to
post markers on the boundaries of areas closed to hunting during the waterfowl hunting
season. Due to the location of the refuge on a major river, this is the only practical
method to locate boundaries in the backwater areas.
Contact Information (e-mail):
Eric Nelson, Refuge Biologist (r3rw_umr@fws.gov)
507-452-4232
For additional information regarding this Web page, contact Chris Lett, in the Division of Information Resources and Technology Management, at Chris_Lett@fws.gov
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Keywords=GIS, data, applications
Last Modified January 02, 2001 10:38 AM