Mapping Ecologic History in the Driftless Area of Minnesota
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Description
The Winona County Historical Society, Winona State University, and Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota’s GeoSpatial Services partnered to develop a digital land cover map from an 1855 Public Land Surveyor’s field notebook for Winona Township. Notes from Public Land Surveys provide the earliest systematically recorded information about vegetation composition and physical features for surveyed lands across the U.S. The first step in developing the historic land cover map was to digitize (i.e., convert to digital GIS data) the survey reference points (e.g., corners, quarter points) and bearing trees using information in the original survey notes. GSS analysts reviewed the bearing tree data and other vegetation notes from the original survey to categorize each survey reference point into a vegetation community. With these survey point vegetation assignments and supplemental data, analysts interpolated the extent of each vegetation community. GSS created an Esri Story Map to document this process and provide access to resulting data products, images, and text in a web-based format that supports inquiry and investigation.
Andy Robertson is currently Executive Director of GeoSpatial Services at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota. In this role, Andy is responsible for oversight and management of all GeoSpatial Services projects, activities and staff. GeoSpatial Services is engaged in a wide variety of projects across the Lower 48 and Alaska including: wetland inventory and functional assessment, NHD updates; stakeholder consultation; and, natural resource condition assessments. They have been a key partner of the USFWS and has been working for over 20 years to update legacy National Wetland Inventory data across the nation. Andy earned a Forest Technology Diploma from Sault College of Applied Technology in Ontario, Canada, a B.Sc. in Environmental Science from the University of Waterloo and completed postgraduate work in forest management at the University of Toronto. He is a board member for the Association of State Wetland Managers, steering committee member for the ASWM Wetland Mapping Consortium and is past chair of the Alaska Wetland Technical Working Group.
Kevin Stark is the Assistant Director at GeoSpatial Services. In addition to his responsibilities as Assistant Director, Kevin contributes to GSS’s wetland science and mapping work. Kevin earned a B.S. in Forestry from the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point in 1999, providing him with a broad natural resource education. From this degree, he followed a career path in arboriculture for several years, focusing on scientifically-based tree care. Then, Kevin began the Masters of Science in GIS at Saint Mary’s University and started working for GeoSpatial Services as a student GIS technician in 2006 . From 2008 until 2015, he was a full-time GIS & Natural Resource Analyst, working on a wide variety of projects from the very first Natural Resource Condition Assessment to one of the first wetland functional assessments that GSS completed. During his time working on natural resource condition assessments, Kevin focused on topics such as land cover/land use, native plant communities, and natural disturbance regimes (e.g., wildfire). Currently, his focus lies in wetland functional assessments and in advancing mapping techniques through the use of elevation derived products, hydrologic toolset parameters, and other GIS data.
Roger Meyer joined the GeoSpatial Services team as a GIS Developer/Analyst in January of 2017. His educational background includes a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Minnesota and a Master’s Degree in Geographic Information Science for Development and Environment from Clark University in Worcester, MA. Roger has served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Botswana, Southern Africa, where he worked with local communities and government agencies to improve the management, protection and infrastructure of the Kgaladi Transfrontier Park and Tsodilo Hills National Monument. He also has diverse work experience with GIS and remote sensing-based projects, including 6 years of experience in developing and applying geospatial solutions for investigating the spatial components of aquatic ecosystem research for the Great Rivers and Great Lakes Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program at the EPA Mid-Continent Ecology Lab in Duluth. Prior to joining GSS, he spent 7 years leading a project to map terrestrial habitats on the islands of American Samoa using remote sensing data.
Kathy Allen joined GeoSpatial Services in 2010 and has worked on numerous Natural Resource Condition Assessments (NRCAs), the Badlands Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment (CCVA), and National Wetland Inventory (NWI) updates for Minnesota and North Dakota. Kathy attended Knox College in Illinois as an undergraduate, receiving a Bachelor’s Degree in biology with a concentration in environmental studies and earning honors for a senior research project in animal behavior. She went on to complete a Master’s Degree in Conservation Biology and Sustainable Development at UW-Madison. Her focus there was on land management and she participated in a project with the Wisconsin DNR, studying the expansion of a State Natural Area. She has worked for Prairie Restorations, Inc., as a management crew leader and with the MN Department of Agriculture’s gypsy moth trapping program. Outside of work, Kathy is the president of her local Sierra Club group.
Start Date
4-6-2021 6:30 PM
End Date
4-6-2021 7:30 PM
Presentation Type
Lecture
Keywords
Winona Township; Public Land Survey; PLS; Public Land Survey System; PLSS; Survey plat maps; First U.S. Federal Land Survey; U.S. Federal Land Survey; Surveyors; Field notes; Daniel Corbin; Geospatial Information Science; GIS software; ArcGIS Story Map; ArcGIS Web AppBuilder; Web GIS format; historical land coverage; Ecological history; Natural Resources; Vegetative Communities; Minnesota Geospatial Commons; GLO Historic Plat Map Retrieval System; Francis J. Marschner; The Original Vegetation of Minnesota; Miron Heinselman, Barbara Coffin
Fiscal Sponsor
This project was made possible in part by the people of Minnesota through a grant funded by an appropriation to the Minnesota Historical Society from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
Rights Management
In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. This video may be viewed and shared. It may not be used for commercial purposes. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the right(s) holder.
Publisher
Winona State University
City
Zoom Webinar, Winona, Minnesota
Department
Special Collections - Library
Date Digital
2021-04-6 18:30
Metadata Creation Responsibility
Allison Quam
Unique Identifier
wsuecohist_2021_stmarys_university_geospatial_services
Master File Format
MP4
File Type
MP4
Running Time
1 hour 02 minutes 43 seconds
Mapping Ecologic History in the Driftless Area of Minnesota
The Winona County Historical Society, Winona State University, and Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota’s GeoSpatial Services partnered to develop a digital land cover map from an 1855 Public Land Surveyor’s field notebook for Winona Township. Notes from Public Land Surveys provide the earliest systematically recorded information about vegetation composition and physical features for surveyed lands across the U.S. The first step in developing the historic land cover map was to digitize (i.e., convert to digital GIS data) the survey reference points (e.g., corners, quarter points) and bearing trees using information in the original survey notes. GSS analysts reviewed the bearing tree data and other vegetation notes from the original survey to categorize each survey reference point into a vegetation community. With these survey point vegetation assignments and supplemental data, analysts interpolated the extent of each vegetation community. GSS created an Esri Story Map to document this process and provide access to resulting data products, images, and text in a web-based format that supports inquiry and investigation.
Andy Robertson is currently Executive Director of GeoSpatial Services at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota. In this role, Andy is responsible for oversight and management of all GeoSpatial Services projects, activities and staff. GeoSpatial Services is engaged in a wide variety of projects across the Lower 48 and Alaska including: wetland inventory and functional assessment, NHD updates; stakeholder consultation; and, natural resource condition assessments. They have been a key partner of the USFWS and has been working for over 20 years to update legacy National Wetland Inventory data across the nation. Andy earned a Forest Technology Diploma from Sault College of Applied Technology in Ontario, Canada, a B.Sc. in Environmental Science from the University of Waterloo and completed postgraduate work in forest management at the University of Toronto. He is a board member for the Association of State Wetland Managers, steering committee member for the ASWM Wetland Mapping Consortium and is past chair of the Alaska Wetland Technical Working Group.
Kevin Stark is the Assistant Director at GeoSpatial Services. In addition to his responsibilities as Assistant Director, Kevin contributes to GSS’s wetland science and mapping work. Kevin earned a B.S. in Forestry from the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point in 1999, providing him with a broad natural resource education. From this degree, he followed a career path in arboriculture for several years, focusing on scientifically-based tree care. Then, Kevin began the Masters of Science in GIS at Saint Mary’s University and started working for GeoSpatial Services as a student GIS technician in 2006 . From 2008 until 2015, he was a full-time GIS & Natural Resource Analyst, working on a wide variety of projects from the very first Natural Resource Condition Assessment to one of the first wetland functional assessments that GSS completed. During his time working on natural resource condition assessments, Kevin focused on topics such as land cover/land use, native plant communities, and natural disturbance regimes (e.g., wildfire). Currently, his focus lies in wetland functional assessments and in advancing mapping techniques through the use of elevation derived products, hydrologic toolset parameters, and other GIS data.
Roger Meyer joined the GeoSpatial Services team as a GIS Developer/Analyst in January of 2017. His educational background includes a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Minnesota and a Master’s Degree in Geographic Information Science for Development and Environment from Clark University in Worcester, MA. Roger has served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Botswana, Southern Africa, where he worked with local communities and government agencies to improve the management, protection and infrastructure of the Kgaladi Transfrontier Park and Tsodilo Hills National Monument. He also has diverse work experience with GIS and remote sensing-based projects, including 6 years of experience in developing and applying geospatial solutions for investigating the spatial components of aquatic ecosystem research for the Great Rivers and Great Lakes Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program at the EPA Mid-Continent Ecology Lab in Duluth. Prior to joining GSS, he spent 7 years leading a project to map terrestrial habitats on the islands of American Samoa using remote sensing data.
Kathy Allen joined GeoSpatial Services in 2010 and has worked on numerous Natural Resource Condition Assessments (NRCAs), the Badlands Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment (CCVA), and National Wetland Inventory (NWI) updates for Minnesota and North Dakota. Kathy attended Knox College in Illinois as an undergraduate, receiving a Bachelor’s Degree in biology with a concentration in environmental studies and earning honors for a senior research project in animal behavior. She went on to complete a Master’s Degree in Conservation Biology and Sustainable Development at UW-Madison. Her focus there was on land management and she participated in a project with the Wisconsin DNR, studying the expansion of a State Natural Area. She has worked for Prairie Restorations, Inc., as a management crew leader and with the MN Department of Agriculture’s gypsy moth trapping program. Outside of work, Kathy is the president of her local Sierra Club group.
Notes
Edited video. Captions available. Allison Quam and Kendall Larson co-hosted the lecture on the Zoom platform.