Land Trusts Using GIS
The following are just some of the scores of land trusts who use GIS and who have posted publicly available map images or interactive maps on their websites:
- Arizona Open Land Trust (AZ)
- Big Sur Land Trust (CA)
- Catawba Lands Conservancy (NC)
- Conservation Trust of North Carolina (NC)
- Essex County Greenbelt Association (MA)
- Finger Lakes Land Trust (NY)
- Forest Society of Maine (ME)
- Forterra (WA)
- Maine Coast Heritage Trust (ME)
- North Olympic Land Trust (WA)
- Peninsula Open Space Trust (CA)
- Sonoma Land Trust (CA)
- Sudbury Valley Trustees (MA)
- Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests (NH)
- The Trustees of Reservations (MA)
- Triangle Land Conservancy (NC)
- Vermont Land Trust (VT)
Non-Profit GIS Consultants
These are nonprofit organizations who can provide GIS consulting services to land trusts, in addition to many commercial consultants:
- GreenInfo Network
- EcoTrust (Pacific Northwest)
- Alaska Conservation Foundation (Alaska)
- SAFC (Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition)
- Ducks Unlimited
- Center for Community GIS (based in Maine, but works regionally and internationally)
- BioGeoCreations Private firm, but focuses on supporting non-profits. (formerly of North Carolina, now in New Mexico focusing on West)
- Trust for Public Land's GIS group - large national organization has a very active GIS staff who work on a variety of greenprinting and related projects.
Conservation Planning and Training
Visit these links to learn more about conservation planning and training opportunities:
A book was published by LTA in 2011, Strategic Conservation Planning, by Ole Amundsen, a long-time Land Trust Alliance partner. It can be ordered directly from the LTA website: "Strategic Conservation Planning provides you with the process and tools to identify, prioritize, pursue and protect the land that will most effectively and efficiently achieve your conservation mission."
GIS and Mapping Web Links
The web has an enormous array of resources about GIS and mapping - here are some selected links (download GreenInfo Network's "What's Going On With GIS" LTA workshop handout for a full list)
- ESRI ArcGIS Online
- ESRI Mapping Resources
- Mapbox - create custom base maps for interactive applications
- CARTO - store and display GIS data in the cloud (was CartoDB, but still has same tools)
- Google Earth Blog and Google Earth Outreach - updates on Google Earth and lots of resources for non-profit use of Google Earth.
- DataBasin - an extensive data warehouse of conservation GIS information, plus capabilities for managing projects collaboratively, mapping and more, created by Conservation Biology Institute.
- Protected Areas Database of the U.S. (PAD-US) - national inventory of protected lands, fee owned plus NCED easements and more.
- National Conservation Easement Database (NCED) - inventory of most easement lands in the U.S. managed by Trust for Public Land and Ducks Unlimited.
- Defenders of Wildlife - Conservation Registry
Jobs in GIS
The following are major web sites that focus on jobs in GIS and related fileds:
- GISjobs.com
- GIS Jobs Clearinghouse
- EcoJobs (Environmental Careers Organization)
- URISA (Urban and Regional Information Systems Association - GIS is part of their broader agenda)
- ESRI (publishers of ArcGIS products, often have jobs available in software and services)
- GISgeography.com Job List