During a time of increasing environmental pressures, climate change mitigation and conservation have never been more important. One of the most powerful tools driving MCHT’s efforts is Geographic Information System (GIS) technology.
Old Pond Marsh where MCHT is working to protect marshland.
“MCHT has been using ArcGIS software for so long now that it’s difficult to imagine our work without it,“ shares MCHT Eastern Maine Land Protection Assistant Soren Denlinger. “ArcGIS allows us to access and display accurate, current data across the entire organization which can’t be taken for granted.”
GIS is used extensively for planning purposes and to determine conservation priorities.
Creating architecture that incorporates layers of spatial data and the ability to publish services that are getting updated in real time is a huge bonus to staff.
For conservation easements, where initial conditions at the time of closing are important for enforcement of the easement from a legal perspective, MCHT does baseline mapping as well. Staff take photos of certain features in the field and bring them back to the office, where they become part of the package that gets analyzed.
Some staff have accounts in MCHT's ArcGIS Online organization, which allows them access to department-specific maps through ArcGIS.com and the Field Maps app. They can then create and edit data points and lines in pre-created layers which are then immediately visible to everyone with access to that map. Anyone can navigate within the map to a specific preserve or project and see all recorded trails and points on the parcel, along with the notes from the person who recorded them.
(Left) Wetlands on the Schoodic Peninsula. (Right) Babson Creek Preserve on Mount Desert Island features 36 acres of meadows, salt marsh, and a small wooded area that attracts wildlife throughout the year.
"I have a pretty good spatial memory, but I can’t keep track of where everything is everywhere,” Amanda shares. “When you’re doing invasive species management it’s never one and done. You’re always going back to do a follow-up treatment, to assess if your first treatment was effective potentially to replant."
“To have two applications side by side that kind of communicate back and forth with different tools — a map for collecting data in the field and a dashboard back in the office for analyzing and reporting capabilities — I think will be beneficial,” says Frank. “It could be something very simple like using Field Maps—basically a web map—or it could be something a little more advanced like using Survey 123 that gives a little more granular control and automation in capturing attribute and location data.”
The basic idea Gabrielson explains, is that human development in general results in landscape fragmentation that increases wildlife disruption. It’s not just the industrial activities like mechanized blueberry harvesting, it’s also the house with a dog on a lead in the back yard, or a public works facility with lights left on overnight. “Many iconic wildlife species — deer, moose, bobcat — can deal with some level of habitat disturbance, but it causes stress,” Jeremy says. “And for species that are more sensitive to disturbance—black bear, pine marten, otter—that increased level of stress can become a barrier.”
Old Pond Marsh is part of a state-wide multi-entity marsh migration conservation initiative to help vulnerable ecological systems adapt to impacts of rising sea levels.
Old Pond Preserve where MCHT is working on marsh restoration.
MCHT is using GIS to map where embankments are, and using the data to develop a design to restore channels that will be able to maintain themselves and to drain the marsh.
