Lake Superior Decision Support System: GIS Databases and Decision Support Systems for Land use Planning

2. Objectives of LSDSS Provide users with data and tools they can apply to local land and resource decisions. Provide a context for local decisions that results in long-term sustainability and stewardship across the basin. Originated from conversations by the Lake Superior Ecosystem Cooperative

3. Develop seamless, meso-scale GIS layers of the Lake Superior Basin Provide for delivery of data and metadata via the Internet and CD-ROMs

4. Objectives - Tools Develop and test decision support tools for local decision makers for land use issues Develop and deploy interpretive kiosks with Lake Superior GIS information for use by residents and visitors

5. Spatial Data Issues Data sources, metadata quality, classification systems, and resolution differ across state and national boundaries Seamless maps are often difficult to construct

6. Spatial Data Issues Accessibility differs by data set WI wetland inventory and many Canadian data sets are funded by cost-recovery mechanisms Many data sets require restrictive licensing agreements Distribution policies not well-established

7. www.nrri.umn.edu/lsgis

8. Database Catalog – Physical features Geology Bathymetry Elevation Watershed Boundaries Climate

9. Database Catalog – Vegetation Layers Presettlement Vegetation Contemporary Land Cover Wetland Inventory Forest Cover Detailed Landsat classification

10. Database Catalog – Ecological Layers Soils Hydrography Ecological Classification Natural Areas Protected areas (SNAs etc) Critical habitats

12. Database Catalog – Social Layers Political boundaries Transportation Census Land Ownership

14. Data Delivery: Downloads Downloadable data ARCVIEW shape files ARC/Info export files Downloadable images GIFs & JPGs

15. Data Delivery: Online Interactive Maps via Arc IMS

16. FDGC Metadata Metadata available for all databases Based on Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) standards Implemented with MN Land Management Information Center’s Datalogger program

17. Forecasting tools: Stormwater Modeling in Miller Creek Designated trout stream, intensive mall development in watershed

18. Decision Support Tools:Landuse planning primer for northern Wisconsin CD-ROM for local (township/county) planners and citizen groups Includes: geographic data specific to the region procedures involved in the planning process examples of ordinance language

19. Land Use Planning CD: Data Spatial data in Arc Explorer land use transportation rivers and lakes natural features political boundaries etc.

20. Land Use Planning Primer (pdf) Planning tools example surveys ordinances language zoning policies Development/preservation strategies Other legal instruments that a local government could tailor to its needs

22. GIS data and analyses to quantify environmental stress: 

23. Researchers at University of Minnesota Duluth’s Natural Resources Research Institute put together a collaborative team of 27 co-principal investigators from 9 institutions led by Dr. Gerald Niemi. The GLEI project is structured as a cooperative agreement with the EPA Mid-Continent Ecology Division laboratory in Duluth, Minnesota. Researchers at University of Minnesota Duluth’s Natural Resources Research Institute put together a collaborative team of 27 co-principal investigators from 9 institutions led by Dr. Gerald Niemi. The GLEI project is structured as a cooperative agreement with the EPA Mid-Continent Ecology Division laboratory in Duluth, Minnesota.

24. GLEI Spatial Analyses Use GIS to identify dominant environmental stress gradients along the Great Lakes coast Select sample sites along stress gradient Sample biotic and abiotic factors fish, macroinvertebates, birds, diatoms, etc. Develop environmental indicators to “monitor the condition, integrity, and long-term sustainability” of coastal ecosystems

25. Great Lakes Coast: 8000 km coastline, divided into 762 “segmentsheds”

26. Intersect Coastline with Ecoregions

27. (open shoreline wetland (unrestricted bay), riverine influence wetland, protected barrier beach wetland, high energy and low energy (embayment) shorelines(open shoreline wetland (unrestricted bay), riverine influence wetland, protected barrier beach wetland, high energy and low energy (embayment) shorelines

28. Anthropogenic Stressor data(for identifying reference areas) Raster data sets (30 m pixels) Agricultural land cover (USGS-NLCD) Residential land use (USGS-NLCD) Population density (2000 Census Block) Road density (TIGER)

29. Anthropogenic Stressor data Point source data NPDES permits (EPA) Toxic Release Inventory (EPA BASINS) Areas of Concern (AOC) Mines and power plants

30. Point sourcesPoint sources

31. Point source distance map Distance from point sourcesDistance from point sources

33. GIS-based stressors used to select sites across a multivariate environmental stress gradient

34. Sample response variables at each siteDevelop indicators… Birds Amphibians Fish Macroinvertebrates Diatoms Water quality Contaminant responses

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