GIS & Land Preservation Chad Hoover,GISP Steuben County GIS Coordinator

Steuben County Land Trust Group How can we target areas within the County to Preserve? What about Endangered Species Data? How do we do this? Need Specific Criteria to determine areas What other data is available

Data Sources County GIS Data Other Data Planimetric bodies of water from 2003 photography Streams, Rivers & Open Drains from 2003 & Surveyors Data Soils Data Other Data Indiana DNR, Div. of Nature Preserves, National Heritage Data (Non-Disclosure Agreement) USFWS, Indiana Biodiversity Initiative USFWS, National Wetland Inventory

Preservation Criteria 1. Parcels near terrestrial communities 2. Parcels near vertebrates 3. Parcels near invertebrates 4. Parcels near vascular plants 5. Parcels near bodies of water 6. Parcels near linear water 7. Parcels near hydric soils 8. Parcels near NWI (National Wetland Inventory)

Created data layer based on each parcel selection & criteria Select each set by location Export each out to its own shapefile

Converted each data layer to Raster

Give values of 0 & 1 for cell in each layer, making each layer Binary Code Conditional Statement

After Rasters were created for each polygon, Used Raster calculator Command line and scripting http://webhelp.esri.com/arcgisdesktop/9.2/index.cfm?topicname=con_

After Rasters were created for each polygon, Used Raster calculator Geoprocessing Arc Toolbox Forum Reclassing no data to 0 http://forums.esri.com/Thread.asp?c=93&f=983&t=298513

Once each Raster is given values of 0, or 1, Add all 8 layers together

Land Trust Preservation Areas

Areas Meeting 8 Criteria Pokagon State Park Marsh Lake Conservation Area The Nature Conservancy’s Douglas Woods DNR Div. Nature Preserves Lime Lake Area

Areas Meeting 7 Criteria Pokagon State Park Trine Recreational Area & Acres Wing Haven Warner Lake Mongo State Wildlife Area Fish Lake, near Town of Fremont

Areas Meeting 6 Criteria

Areas Meeting 6 or More Criteria

How do we use this information? Use information to target properties. Narrow search for protective areas down. See if areas connect to existing protected areas, preserves or DNR properties. Provide information back to local Landtrust Group and DNR officials for future planning purposes.

Questions? Chad Hoover, GISP Steuben County Government choover@co.steuben.in.us 260-668-1000 ext. 1228