GIS Mapping: Vital to Natural Resource Management

GIS mapping is used around the world by cities large and small, and countries large and small to maintain the delicate balance of ecosystems and urban forests. GIS has numerous, well developed applications for the sciences, especially forestry, ecology, biology, wildlife management, and geology. In addition, GIS is an effective, if not necessary tool in managing the modern issues of park management, with some of the larger, well know parks receiving millions of visitors a year. GIS helps park managers and resource managers accomplish research, maintenance, modeling, and management on a daily basis. Chances are, the city you live in has its’ parks in a GIS.

Resource Management

Natural resource management is a multi-disciplinary, science base field that balances economic and environmental considerations. As there is a strong research component to resource management, GIS mapping is used to model and manage wildlife populations, timber growth and harvest, and manage environmental quality. Water resources falls into this category, where GIS is an important tool for identifying pollution sources and solutions that comply with state and federal environmental laws. One example is the County of Sacramento’s use of GIS mapping to identify non-point sources of water pollution, the types of land use that contribute the most pollution, and an evaluation of planning related scenarios to mitigate and reduce these sources. Not every GIS mapping solution has to be complex. In fact, many solutions are quite simple, but could not be accomplished without GIS due to the fact it represents data geographically, or spatially. A simple map showing the location of heavy metal discharging factories in proximity to open water is an example. It is not a complex map to create, but the visual impact is apparent to even novices.

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