Looking for Prairie Remnants: Jo Daviess County Illinois Prairie Site Evaluation A Community Based Learning Project –Applying GIS –Margaret Grommes, student –Dan Harms, Instructor

Prairie Site Evaluation Cooperating parties: –Jo Daviess Carroll Area Vocational Center CAD/GIS class –Jo Daviess Conservation Foundation –Northwest Illinois Chapter of the Prairie Enthusiasts

Goals: Analyze data to identify potential prairie remnant locations Incorporate observations of early surveyors Identify and map ecosytems in the county Map aspect and match to known prairie remnant sites Georeference data to facilitate GPS location of prairie remnants Mixed Tall and Short grass prairie of the U.S. Great Plains. (Source: NRCS)

Data Sources: Northwest Illinois Chapter of the Prairie Enthusiasts –Provided tables of ecosystems identified by soil type United States Department of Agriculture –SSURGO data Jo Daviess County Illinois Illinois Department of Agriculture –Land Cover of Illinois Classification USGS –DEMs Jo Daviess County Illinois Illinois State Library/Illinois Secretary of State –Landcover of Illinois in the Early 1800’s ESRI –Tiger® County base map and road data

Matching Ecosystems to SSURGO Data Ecosystem data was scanned and captured as text. When converted to a table in Access it was joined to the soil map, creating an ecosystem map. County Soil Map Ecosystem Map

Historic Land Cover from the 1800’s The Illinois State Library and Illinois Natural History Survey created a 1800’s land cover map based upon the original Public Land Surveys. Jo Daviess County was clipped from the state- wide data. The resulting data was reclassified to represent the land cover observed by the original land surveyors.

Aspect Mapping USGS DEMs for Jo Daviess County were downloaded and mosaiced. From this mosaic hillshade and aspect maps were created.

Mapping soil development vegetation… A major factor in soil development is the native vegetation. Investigators can use the soil orders as a guide to the original vegetation on a site. Current Land use… The Illinois Department of Agriculture provided current land use data…..

About the school …… The Jo Daviess Carroll Area Vocational Center provides vocational/technical training to juniors and seniors from six cooperating schools. GIS is an integral part of the Computer Aided Drafting class. Students work individually in a competency based system. GIS platforms used: ArcView 3.2, ArcMap 8.0, AutoDesk Map Students are encouraged to participate in community-based learning programs, gaining skills while adding value to the community. 75% of vocational center students plan on continuing their education after high school. About the project…… The Prairie Site Evaluation dataset was provided to the Jo Daviess Conservation Foundation for use in their GIS. The data was projected to match the data existing in the Jo Daviess Conservation Foundation GIS. This is an ongoing project between the school and the agencies. The following slide shows the final map presented.