Large Scale Forest Planning

The content and method for developing a land management plan for national forests, grasslands and prairielands is outlined in the 2012 Planning Rule. This process includes collaborations with various governing bodies, tribal representatives and the public in order to promote transparency allowing all stakeholders a chance to make their voices heard. It is important that the groups writing the National Forest plan have accurate and sharable access to data, especially data that is dynamic (such as the location of new build areas or updated burn sites from wildfires). This data can educate stakeholders about the current state of a forest’s water quality, threatened species and preservations of historical sites to name a few, and justify the desired measures to monitor and protect these resources.

The following project presents an ArcGIS StoryMap which explains the need for a hypothetical water quality monitoring system in the Bighorn National Forest in Wyoming. It utilizes feature layers found from reputable sources within AGOL’s Living Atlas as well as regional dynamic wildfire maps. The Crater Ridge Fire which occurred in July 2021 when this StoryMap was made is no longer burning (and thusly does not show up on the corresponding InciWeb map). In the event that this StoryMap were going to be used for historical reference purposes, a final fire perimeter map or a burn map could be used to replace the InciWeb map.