Resource and Land Management Tools
Resource and land management has historical significance: what's been done in the past has, for better or worse, shaped the environment and natural ecosystems of today; and, our management actions today will inexorably shape what the environment and ecosystems that will be in the future. Aldo Leopold, the imputed Father of modern wildlife management and author of Game Management in 1933, proposed that "game (wildlife) management can be restored by the creative use of the same tools which have heretofore destroyed it - axe, cow, plow, fire and gun."
Indeed, times have changed! Technology has seemingly taken over the world or at least changed how we see it. Recent advances in computers and mobile devices have most definitely changed the way we interact with one another, share and disseminate information, collect and archive data, develop and integrate conservation planning efforts, and even view and navigate the earth. In many ways the same technological advances have better equipped us to more easily and more rapidly destroy natural ecosystems but, in the same vein, technology has also facilitated more precise and accurate land use management. For example, Precision Ag Farming has enabled farmers to increase crop yield and effectively manage wildlife habitat in the same field by better utilizing the most productive soils of a field for crop production while promoting wildlife habitat in lower soil quality sites.
The foundation of land management will ultimately return to the management decisions we make and how we directly impact the elements as a result of those decisions, and thus our ensuing actions will dictate the impact of the ecological footprint, good or bad, we leave behind. Our goal is to use novel technologies through the creation of resource and land management tools so that land managers and conservation planners can better prescribe and optimally ascribe land management activities as well as more easily archive, map and evaluate their management actions.
Here are some examples of how the Outreach Program at Tall Timbers is working to develop practical resource and land management tools to promote better, more effective management and conservation actions.
The use and utility of Web Mapping Applications (WMAs) are becoming more and more prevalent, especially as internet bandwidth and speeds are increasing. WMAs provide a point-and-click mapping environment via the internet allowing users to view spatial components as well as important associated biological information. The scale at which WMAs occur may vary widely and are often project and task specific. We have successfully deployed numerous WMAs to improve our ability to view, share, and disseminate valuable conservation planning information. See the following for some examples:
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The advent of iPhones, iPad, the DROID, and other smart phones and devices such as tablets provides a framework to more effectively access and record information while in the field. We are currently exploring the opportunities and working on the development of using phone apps to provide land managers with a mobile land management tool to more efficiently implement management plans and record management actions while in the field. At present, we are cooperating with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Breeding Bird Atlas program to develop a system for recording breeding distributions of birds species in the state of Florida.
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We also have developed and are currently working on numerous GIS tools for use within the ArcGIS environment. These GIS tools are geared to aid conservation planners in spatial data manipulation and creation of new spatial data through various modeling procedures. One example of such a tool is the NBCI Conservation Planning Tool which includes a Toolbox deployable in ArcGIS designed to aid biologists and conservation planners to better model and conserve grassland songbirds and northern bobwhite quail through the integration of relevant bobwhite and grassland bird management data collected as part of the national recovery plan.
Services and Potential Project Collaboration
We are always interested in learning more about how we can better serve you and develop tools to help you more effectively manage and conserve our natural world. We are particularly interested in seeking new partnerships for collaborative future projects as it relates to GIS, wildlife management and/or natural resource planning, development or management. Please contact us if you have a potential project or tool in mind.