August 23, 2004
Using GPS to Map Naturalist Projects
Topo of the Bison/Beefaloe Impact Measurement Project.
Colored lines represent data points produced by volunteers
and NPS employees during the very fun and interesting
weekend at the North Rim, Grand Canyon National Park.
This topo is a small (and greatly reduced) section of a GIS, or Graphic Information System, product. On it you can see small colored loops and lines. These are the UTM (Universal Transverse Mercator) data points recorded by handheld GPS units carried by volunteer teams who were mapping their routes and then logging what they found, either Bison/Beefaloe signs and impacts, or baseline flora and fauna. This data was then uploaded via a laptop to a GIS system by Grand Canyon Trust GIS manager Steve Fluck. The merged data and map layers were then transmitted back to the Park Biologist Elaine Leslie to close the project loop.
The GPS receivers were the same ones used by Master Naturalists in their Continuing Education Sessions.
Transportation and logistics were provided by The Grand Canyon Trust.