Stewardship Tools: Who’s Using What

Land trust stewardship staff interviewed for the Saving Land article “Stewardship: The Nitty Gritty of Forever” talk about the tools (including software and hardware) they like to use in their work. All of the land trusts mentioned below are accredited.

Connor Coleman, Stewardship Director, Aspen Valley Land Trust (CO)

When I started in this field in 2004 we were still running ArcView 3.2 and had just stopped using colored pencils to draw maps for our baseline documentation reports. Now I’m using 3D orthoimagery at a 20cm resolution for part of our monitoring program. [Orthoimagery data typically are high-resolution aerial images that combine the visual attributes of an aerial photograph with the spatial accuracy and reliability of a planimetric map.]

My goal was to develop a comprehensive stewardship system that would seamlessly link the monitoring process from pre-site visit prep to post-processing, including database recordkeeping and disseminating of reports. While we are not 100% there yet we are very much on track to achieving this goal, largely in part to the LOCATE database system developed by Colorado Coalition of Land Trusts (www.locateapplication.com) and a monitoring application we customized from the Fulcrum app (www.fulcrumapp.com). It is highly likely that our next step is to develop our own standalone monitoring app.

I have also implemented a three-pronged approach to our monitoring program. While on-the-ground monitoring site visits provided us with significant data, it was extremely difficult to observe 100% of our properties given the terrain (the terrain within our conservation portfolio ranges from 5,000 feet in elevation up to 11,000) and limited monitoring season (typically May-October due to snow). To improve our monitoring we divided our service area into three regions, with each region being monitored with a different method over a three-year rotating cycle. One region is monitored on-the-ground as we historically have but now using a tablet running our monitoring app. The second region is flown over and observed from a small fixed-wing aircraft thanks to the services of Denver-based True West Aerial (truewestaerial.com) and documented with a high-quality DSLR camera outfitted with a GPS receiver for geotagging purposes. The third region is monitored via high-resolution orthoimagery. Last year we utilized services provided by LightHawk (lighthawk.org) to collect this imagery, which provided hi-res (20cm resolution imagery). This year we are utilizing the USDA’s NAIP (National Agricultural Imagery Program) dataset to provide imagery and continuing to explore imagery sources.

Since implementing this new monitoring program our monitoring costs have been reduced by one-third while gathering better data, and we anticipate our savings to increase as we progress. We are also confident that our legal defense capabilities have increased.

Jesica Blake, Director of Stewardship, North Carolina Coastal Land Trust

We use iPads (tablets), ArcGIS in the cloud so we can use our phones, if necessary, and Google Earth aerials for monitoring preparation.

Kevin Thusius, Director of Land Conservation, Ice Age Trail Alliance (WI)

I use a very accurate GPS unit, ArcGIS mapping software, and on rare occasions, game cameras to monitor property misuse in our preserves.

Paul Elconin, Director of Land Conservation, Weantinoge Heritage Land Trust (CT)

We have four regular GIS users on staff. I use a lot of smartphone GPS; other staff rely on handheld GPS units. We are looking at partnering with Lighthawk for monitoring and donor flights for the first time this fall. We also use Topofusion software to create waypoints from the time stamp on photos, so that saves us time in the field as we don’t need to collect and process so many individual waypoints. 

Paul Wendland, Stewardship Coordinator, Teton Regional Land Trust (ID)

We monitor more than 130 easements a year, covering 30,000+ acres over 7,500 square miles. Because of our size, plus the shortness of our field season, we’ve become more efficient in our easement stewardship using technology. Just this year we have transitioned away from traditional paper maps and forms. We’re now using Motion X GPS (HD), a mobile GPS tracking app on our tablets and smartphones, newer Garmin GPS units with cameras for our baseline field work and a combination of Google Earth Pro and ArcGIS for our mapping. We are also doing preliminary research into building a relational database for all of our land protection and stewardship data, creating a linked and streamlined data management system with more functionality as our volume of data is increasing. We are growing rapidly, so our systems will need to be set up to allow us to grow and maintain our effective stewardship program. Technology is helping us take it to the next level.

Dennis Desmond, Land and Easement Stewardship Coordinator, Mainspring Conservation Trust (NC)

While for monitoring we may go for lighter smart phone technology, for baseline documentation reports I still prefer a Garmin GPS (currently, a 76CSx), a digital SLR camera, a Rite in the Rain notebook, a pencil and a hiking pole. In the office, we use Minnesota DNR’s DNRGPS software as the interface between the GPS units and ESRI’s ArcGIS software. Also, I like taking panoramic shots, and find Serif PanoramaPlus a simple and easy-to-use photo stitching software. If a grant application comes through, I have my eye on a Garmin Monterra, a GPS that is Wi-Fi enabled (Android apps) and contains a camera with automatic geotagging.

Bonus Link

Deschutes Land Trust in Oregon (not featured in the stewardship article) recently posted this piece on its website, saying, “Change detection analysis will never replace our annual in-person monitoring of our protected lands. But for our large, remote properties it certainly is helpful in enabling us to focus on areas of potential change and then target our site visits to those particular areas. It's one high-tech solution that certainly lends a hand.”