Progress 07/01/07 to 12/31/10
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Conducted eleven public meetings in LaCrosse and Calumet Counties designed to engage members of the public in the process to plan and prioritize agricultural working lands. Developed and disseminated a series of presentations that described pilot project goals and objectives and lessons learned. Conducted a series of sixteen GIS suitability analyses and maps showing the factors contributing to prioritizing farmland. Tested and developed prioritization algorithms using Community Viz software. Tested Web 2.0 mapping and analyses technologies using several software packages. Developed and refined web mapping and analyses using ArcGIS Server Flex. With an internet connection, this technology allows the general public to view maps and analyses, download GIS data to the desktop, print maps, turn on and off GIS data layers, and conduct GIS analyses at the parcel level. Developed a website page dedicated to sharing project results with professionals and the general public. The website includes meeting agendas and minutes for public meetings in Calumet and La Crosse Counties, fact sheets, case studies, final report and findings for Calumet and La Crosse Counties, GIS analyses and suitability maps, and a portal to web mapping tools. PARTICIPANTS: Douglas Miskowiak continued to oversee pilot operations (web 2.0 development and research), has written about project findings, has prepared and presented on research methods and findings, and has integrated pilot findings into a new course available to university students and GIS and planning professionals. Corinna Neeb, Jon Galloy, and Mike Brostad, student interns, conducted background research for publications and helped to research and develop Web 2.0 applications with Google Earth, ArcGIS Explorer, and ArcGIS Server. Project interns collaborated with Alan Bond, senior information technology specialist, to develop the final application of ArcGIS Server that is available to the public at the GIS Center web site. Tom McClintock continued to provide service to La Crosse County, helping them modify project criteria with Community Viz software, to meet to farmland preservation objectives. TARGET AUDIENCES: Four specific target audiences were provided information that caused a change in knowledge, actions, and conditions. Presentations and papers have been given to GIS and planning professionals. These presentations have led planners and GIS analysts in Wisconsin to implement pilot methodologies elsewhere in Wisconsin. Local officials have also been provided with project information that has led them to recommend project methodologies in their local areas. Gathering Waters Conservancy and various land trusts in Wisconsin are aware of and are recommending project methodologies. Members of land trusts are taking educational courses on project methods in 2011. Undergraduate and graduate students are currently enrolled for the 2011 Spring Semester to take a course that shares project methodologies. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: A project extension was approved for July 2010 through December 2010 to conduct new research and implement Web 2.0 technologies and make them available over the internet. Initial project work in 2008 was funded with other funding sources. Funds remaining were used to add a new research and information sharing component.
Impacts
Project products, presentations, and results were utilized in the following ways that had a positive impact on planning for and prioritizing working lands. Calumet County has included results of the pilot project in their updated farmland preservation plan that will be used as an instrument to inform policy making. Calumet County's farmland preservation plan was the first approved by the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection (DATCP). La Crosse County utilized pilot methodologies to conduct the prioritization process again, this time for identifing areas suitable for purchasing conservation easements. La Crosse County submitted an application for conservation easements to DATCP using pilot methodologies. Rock County planners utilized pilot methodologies to conduct their own working land suitability analyses for farmland preservation planning. South East Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission has also applied pilot methodologies in developing a suitability assessment of working lands. The University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point, GIS Center has integrated project findings into a new online course - Geography 473-673: GIS Applications for Managing Working Lands and Operations. The course will be offered for the first time in the Spring 2011 semester. The course will also be made available in an intensive workshop style format for working professionals.
Publications
- Mikowiak, Douglas A. (2011)forthcoming. Four Ways Wisconsin's Land Inforamtion Systems Address the Working Lands Initiative.
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Progress 01/01/09 to 12/31/09
Outputs
OUTPUTS: A capstone presentation was delivered in both Calumet and La Crosse Counties to disseminate project findings and results. The presentation provided a brief overview of the project and methodologies, described the roles of the project specialists and local participants, described the proposed LESA model, and shared recommendations for future work. The presentations were delivered to various committees of each county's elected board. The presentation for Calumet County was delivered to approximately 15 county board members on January 29, 2009. The presentation for La Crosse County was delivered to approximately 15 county board members and county staff on August 3, 2009. Exit interviews were conducted in Calumet County on January 29, 2009 with project participants to understand project strengths and shortcomings. A presentation on project methodologies was delivered February 5, 2009 in Manitowoc, Wisconsin at a Wisconsin Working Lands Initiative meeting sponsored by the Glacial Lakes Conservancy. Approximately 50 people were in attendance. A presentation entitled, Lessons Learned using GIS and the Land Evaluation and Site Assessment" was delivered February 19, 2009 at the Annual Conference of the Wisconsin Land Information Association. Approximately 30 people were in attendance. A one-day workshop entitled, "Targeting Working Lands and Operations for GIS Managers, Planners, and Local Officials" was delivered February 18, 2009 at the Annual Conference of the Wisconsin Land Information Association. Eleven people were in attendance. A two-day workshop was delivered on May 18 and 19, 2009 for project partners from Calumet and La Crosse Counties. The workshop was intended to build local capacity to implement procedures learned during the pilot project. The La Crosse County GIS model was updated and amended in November 2009 to assist La Crosse County in their efforts to utilize the GIS model for local planning. PARTICIPANTS: Douglas Miskowiak, principal investigator from UW-Stevens Point, prepared and delivered four presentations and two workshops during the reporting period. Mr. Miskowiak prepared findings and recommendations reports for both pilot communities. Additionally, he helped Community Viz prepare a two-page fact sheet on the pilot project and completed exit interviews with participants in Calumet County. Tom McClintock, UW-Madison researcher, assisted Mr. Miskowiak in preparation of the final reports for La Crosse and Calumet Counties. He also helped Community Viz prepare the two-page fact sheet on the pilot project. Tom and Douglas co-instructed the workshops delivered at the WLIA and to project partners. Additionally, Tom worked with La Crosse County to update the LESA model with Community Viz. TARGET AUDIENCES: Locally elected and appointed officials, interested citizens, and resource professionals have participated or have attended presentations and workshops that detailed project methodologies, results, and lessons learned. Approximately 120 members from these target audiences were served by the pilot project in 2009. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Funds dedicated to the Targeting Working Lands and Operations Pilot Project have not been fully expended in fiscal year 2009. Funds are expected to be expended in fiscal year 2010 to further disseminate project findings and methodologies.
Impacts
Project methodologies and results were shared with over 100 local officials, citizens, and resource professionals. At least two communities have used the pilot project methodologies to conduct similar analyses. Since working as a pilot community, La Crosse County has again used project methodologies to create a GIS-based analysis to prioritize working lands eligible for receiving conservation easements. Professional planners at Rock County who participated at the 2009 workshop at the Wisconsin Land Information Association have indicated through email conversations that they are employing project methodologies to prioritize working lands.
Publications
- Community Viz. (2009). Planning for Agriculture: Targeting Working Lands using LESA. Online Fact Sheet. http://www.placeways.com/communityviz/gallery/casestudies/pdf/Targeti ngWorkingLands.pdf Miskowiak, Douglas. (2009). Targeting Working Lands and Operations Pilot Project: Findings and Recommendations Report for Calumet County, Wisconsin. Miskowiak, Douglas. (2009). Targeting Working Lands and Operations Pilot Project: Findings and Recommendations Report for La Crosse County, Wisconsin.
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Progress 01/01/08 to 12/31/08
Outputs
OUTPUTS: A series of eleven local committee meetings were conducted to implement the local participation and testing phase of the project. Six meetings were held in Calumet County. Five meetings were held in La Crosse County. Meeting agendas and minutes were created and posted to the project website (www.uwsp.edu/cnr/landcenter/workinglands). Agendas and minutes were also distributed in a hard copy format to committee members. The purpose of the meetings was to: 1) provide project education and facilitation to local committee members, 2) gather local input to develop custom GIS assessments of working lands, and 3) evaluate pilot program methodologies and outputs. The meetings, facilitated by Douglas Miskowiak and the local UWEX educator, helped local committees work through the LESA process in step-wise fashion. Comprehensive plans from each county were examined to identify potentially appropriate uses for LESA and GIS. Land information from multiple local, state, and federal sources were collected, analyzed, and employed to develop LESA models for each county. Twelve, citizen-developed, criteria choices were custom-crafted into sophisticated LESA models. The models employ GIS software and weighted overlay techniques. A series of cartographic maps were developed to illustrate the spatial consequences of decisions made by citizen committees. Tom McClintock developed each criteria choice into a customized GIS application using Community Viz software. The process resulted in Land Evaluation and Site Assessment models, conceptualized by citizens, that assess working lands at the county-wide scale. The pilot project and our methodologies were presented at three venues in 2008. Doug Miskowiak presented at the Calumet County Wisconsin Town's Association Annual Meeting on April 17. The session was attended by approximately 60 participants. One State Senator and two State Representatives were present in the audience. Preliminary results and lessons learned from the pilot project were presented to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources on October 30. Doug Miskowiak also presented at the Wisconsin Working Lands Initiative Workshops sponsored by the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection and the Wisconsin Town's Association on December 16 and December 17 in Kimberly and Stevens Point, Wisconsin. These sessions were attended by over 100 participants each. The session in Stevens Point was attended by one State Senator and one State Representative. Tom McClintock provided Community Viz Training on December 18 and 19, 2008. The training session taught participants to utilize Community Viz software for land use modeling, including LESA modeling. PARTICIPANTS: Douglas Miskowiak initiated and completed the local community and testing phase of the pilot project. In total, eleven committee meetings were organized and facilitated by Douglas, six meetings for Calumet County and five meetings for La Crosse County. Meeting agendas and minutes were created and posted to the project website (www.uwsp.edu/cnr/landcenter/workinglands). Agendas and minutes were also distributed in a hard copy format to committee members. To prepare for local committee meetings, Douglas examined and interpreted local plan documents to identify potential and appropriate uses for LESA in each county. Summary documents were prepared describing potential uses for LESA. Douglas also collected land information from various local, state, and federal sources that were used to create LESA models with GIS. To help facilitate the understanding of GIS and LESA concepts, Douglas developed LESA scenarios and menus for committee members to critique and modify. Cartographic maps were also developed by Douglas to illustrate the consequences of decisions made by committee members. Douglas presented pilot methodologies and preliminary results at three venues in 2008. Tom McClintock exploited available land information and Community Viz software to develop GIS enabled LESA models from citizen conceptualized scenarios. Tom used Community Viz software to develop and refine 16 citizen conceptualized scenarios. Tom presented the resulting GIS enabled LESA models at three local committee meetings. Reports were also generated by Tom that detailed how each model was developed. Tom prepared and delivered a technical workshop from December 18 to 19 at the UW-Madison, LICGF training facility. He taught participants how to utilize Community Viz software to develop LESA models and land use build-out scenarios. TARGET AUDIENCES: Project facilitation for the local and testing phase of the project was delivered to committees consisting of farmers, local elected and appointed officials, and rural and suburban landowners. Professional planners and resource professionals from each county were also invited to participate as non-voting members on the committees. Voting and non-voting committee members were presented with learning materials designed to enhance their knowledge of GIS and LESA models. Committees were responsible to apply what they learned to conceive LESA models and critique the GIS enabled results. Pilot project methodologies and preliminary lessons learned were presented to three distinct target audiences. The primary target audience consisted of rural and suburban landowners and farmers. Secondary target audiences consisted of planning and conservation resource professionals and elected officials from town, county, village, and state government. Notably, two Wisconsin State Senators and three Wisconsin State Representatives attended. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
Citizen committee members in both Calumet and La Crosse Counties were made aware about how available land information and citizen input could be applied using GIS to target working lands for conservation. Citizens in Calumet County in particular have become vocal advocates for using LESA and GIS to prioritize working lands. Committee members have voiced their support for using LESA to local and state officials. County planning and conservation professionals were provided with land information and land use models customized for targeting county working lands. Local elected officials are provided with a set of tools and methods that help interpret and defend the land use decisions they make. The pilot project is anticipated to help them develop informed policies that protect working lands. LESA models help local officials understand the consequences of their decisions before they are implemented on the ground. Presentations delivered by Douglas Miskowiak in April and December 2008 have promoted awareness about how to employ the LESA model with GIS. Bay Lake Regional Planning Commission has provided testimony. The agency's GIS Coordinator has documented interest in our pilot project for his region. The County Educator in Calumet County is also benefiting from the results of this pilot. She considers this project a 'systems' approach to land use, whereby GIS and land information are connected to various tasks she executes as a local educator. This project links land information to such subjects as the fundamentals of democracy and property rights. She understands that without information about land, its resources, and who owns them, land and its resources cannot be managed effectively. Additionally, Community Viz training provided by Tom McClintock has built the capacity of participants to conduct land use modeling using GIS. One participant is now utilizing Community Viz software to model land use change and develop build-out scenarios for various Wisconin communities.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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Progress 01/01/07 to 12/31/07
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Conducted an extensive literature review of various local and state applications of the Land Evaluation and Site Assessment System. Delivered a presentation to the Town of Westpoint in Columbia County, Wisconsin regarding the use of LESA to implement portions of their comprehensive plan. The presentation will be modified for use with official county project partners. Sent a request for participation to University of Wisconsin Community Resource Development Educators. Reviewed four serious applications and accepted two county applications, La Crosse and Calumet. Sent applicants rejection or acceptance letters as appropriate. Developed a Memorandum of Understanding with project partners. Copies have been signed by university and project partners. Developed a project web page located at: www.uwsp.edu/cnr/landcenter/workinglands/Index.html.
PARTICIPANTS: Douglas Miskowiak has conducted an extensive literature search, completed two pamphlet publications, initiated a project web page, reviewed applications for county partners, developed a Memorandum of Understanding, and has worked with local partners to begin local facilitation. He has also conducted a presentation or training in the Town of West Point to describe the use of Geographical Information Systems and the Land Evaluation and Site Assessment. Wisconsin Department of Agriculture Trade and Consumer Protection provided assistance and advice regarding partner selection. Planning staff and officials from Calumet and LaCrosse county are beginning to evaluate how the farmland protection analyses will be integrated with their comprehensive land use planning processes.
TARGET AUDIENCES: The Plan Commission and interested citizens attended a presentation or training session held at the Town of West Point hall on December 6, 2007. Citizens attending were generally farmers and rural landowners.
Impacts
Town of WestPoint in Columbia County is aware of Geographical Information Systems and how they can be applied using the Land Evaluation and Site Assessment to implement key portion of their recently adopted comprehensive plan. The Town's plan commission and board are anticipated to use this information to decide on plan implementation next steps.
Publications
- Miskowiak, Douglas. (2007). Targeting Working Lands and Operations: Equipping Local People with Accurate Tools. Online. http://www.uwsp.edu/cnr/landcenter/workinglands/TWLO_intro.pdf.
- Miskowiak, Douglas. (2007). What is LESA? Targeting Priority Working Lands FAQ Sheet. Online. http://www.uwsp.edu/cnr/landcenter/workinglands/LESA.pdf.
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