GEOG385 Final Project
Kimberly Mauch
Development of a Web-based Mapping Service for Project
and Land Management Managers for the Nevada Conifer Extraction Project
and Greater Sage-Grouse Habitat Management
Executive Summary
The U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Western Ecological Research Center (WERC) field
station in Dixon, California was contracted to create a high-resolution spatial data layer and map
of pinyon-juniper trees to be used for analysis and identification of areas where pinyon-juniper
forests are expanding into sagebrush habitat. The purpose of my final project was to
demonstrate how a web-based map service of the conifer extraction project and Greater SageGrouse management categories dataset would be useful to the project manager and land
managers to quickly gain insight into the status and progress of the project as well as where
suitable sage-grouse habitat is located within a specific region. Another purpose was to show
how the two datasets could be utilized by land managers for habitat restoration to benefit sagegrouse.
Three dataset layers were utilized to make four geoprocessing widgets for the map service.
Geoprocessing outputs were appropriately symbolized but weren’t necessarily correctly
displayed in the map. While there were issues with the symbolism of the selected output and
placement of the information table, the web-based map did provide correct information and still
proved that it could be useful to the targeted audience.