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GeoInformatics-7-2009
article these findings by boat, using gps to navigate to each of the locations where aquatic plant beds were observed and recorded. the boat team accessed a data dictionary on the trimble geoxt handhelds to record and map the precise location of milfoil beds and to accurately classify the presence of milfoil at each location as dense , moderate/mixed , or sparse. the team established an esri arcgis project file for the mission with a geodatabase set up for weed mapping. using the mapping software, they created polygons of probable eurasian milfoil beds and all aquatic plant communities that were visible in the county's photography as a map layer. the team created 143 polygons that gave an approximate dimension of each aquatic weed bed observed. this project background aerial imagery was moved onto a laptop computer system. with the detailed location information collected, the mapping teams returned to the aquatechnex offices where they downloaded and processed the location data using the trimble gps analyst extension for esri arcgis desktop software. by interpreting the aerial imagery with the field gps data, the polygons clearly delineated the location and density classification of the weeds. was instrumental in helping the county save resources and reduce expenses in the initial mapping stage of the project. by applying the innovative mapping technique outlined above, the team was able to survey, analyze, and report on the nearly 100 miles (161 kilometers) of shoreline in only five days, saving tens of thousands of dollars over traditional mapping techniques. alaska association of conservation districts the alaska association of conservation districts (aacd) is another organization that has implemented a successful and cost-effective weed management program with a combination of trimble gps equipment and esri gis software. located in wasilla, alaska, the aacd is an organization that supports twelve statewide soil and water conservation districts. funded by the epa, the aacd is currently in the midst of a large-scale project aimed at mapping and controlling invasive reed canarygrass along the kenai peninsula. the invasive reed canarygrass (rcg) management project is particularly important because these weeds are encroaching on river beds and wetlands, impacting streamflows, and causing degradation of salmon spawning beds and habitats. treatment plan with the detailed assessment of the extent of the weed invasion completed, bonner county was able to submit a federal grant application and received funding of $1.8 million to execute a comprehensive and sustainable weed management effort. by working with the county, the us army corps of engineers and the idaho department of agriculture, aquatechnex biologists were able to develop a treatment plan to eradicate eurasian milfoil by focusing on four different aquatic herbicides that met the requirements of the u.s. endangered species act protecting designated critical habitat zones for bull trout. using boats equipped with geoxt handhelds, the aquatechnex team was able to navigate to the exact location of each weed infestation quickly. biologists then treated up to 1,000 acres (404 hectares) of the eurasian milfoil infestations per day, at a total cost of about $430 per acre ($1,062 per hectare). to monitor the effectiveness of the treatment plan, the state of idaho hired an independent expert from mississippi state university. a year after the initial weed management plan went into action the university confirmed that the 4,000 acres (1,618 hectares) of herbicide treatment areas experienced very good to excellent control. while the eurasian milfoil treatment costs were adequate for this scale of weed management project, mcnabb believes trimble s technology ware to process the differential gps corrections and to export the data to esri arcgis software. also the data collected was easily shared as part of the alaska exotic plant information clearing house (akepic) mapping project, which was served using excel (http://akweeds.uaa.alaska.edu/). gino graziano, invasive weeds and agricultural pest coordinator dnr, division of agriculture, believes this type of field collection and geographic data sharing effort is an important step in improving collaboration and treatment strategies of invasive weeds across the state. other groups that we work with like the alaska national parks service enthusiastically recommended that we use trimble equipment for our weed management project—it was a no brainer said graziano. with trimble geoxt handhelds we were able to survey the area with an extremely high-level of accuracy and we ve prioritized seven streams that are critical in this effort. as management begins on infestations threatening key habitats, the high accuracy of trimble geoxt handhelds will allow for close monitoring and geographic display of progress in reduction of infestations size over time. the group s long-term plan is to gather specific location and attribute data across the kenai peninsula such as habitat type, size of infestations to quantify risk of infestations with the reed canarygrass. with this data, we ll be able to load the information into our gis and monitor success as a reduction in the number and size of infestations, using risk of infestation of key habitats as a metric that allows us to monitor and quantify the effectiveness of our treatment plan, said graziano. treatment plan partners of the aacd including the kenai watershed forum have used the data to implement control practices in priority areas on the kenai peninsula. the majority of management is being completed using typar fabric as a weed barrier. the aacd has established plots to monitor effectiveness and cost of various control techniques including use of weed barrier and herbicide application. whenever control work is performed careful notes are taken on handheld gps units, and shared amongst partners. with high-accuracy data now recorded, the aacd is working to garner funding for management. the data collected demonstrates the unique opportunity to prevent impacts to key resources, over an area the size of many states, from invasive plant infestations. rebecca peck, trimble mapping & gis. internet: www.trimble.com/mgis data collection from the recommendation of team members with the alaska national parks service exotic plant management team, the aacd opted to use trimble equipment for this weed survey and management effort. an aacd weed scout used a gps unit along with gps pathfinder office and terrasync software to collect highly-accurate data. in all, over 260 incidences of reed canarygrass locations, about 100 acres (40 hectares) were identified and mapped. working with a very limited budget for this reed canarygrass project, the team was ecstatic that over the course of a summer, a single analyst was able to use trimble gps equipment to map the infected area. once the data was collected the analyst used trimble gps pathfinder office soft- 18 october/november 2009
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