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 Land and Water Trust (AZ)
- Big Sur Land Trust (CA)
- Catawba Lands Conservancy (NC)
- Conservation Trust of North Carolina (NC)
- Essex County Greenbelt Association (MA)
- Falmouth Land Trust (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)
- Skagit Land Trust (WA)
- 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)
- Ducks Unlimited
- Center for Community GIS (based in Maine, but works regionally and internationally)
- Center for Geospatial Solutions (CGS) is a self-sustaining nonprofit enterprise operating out of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy focused on nonprofit data solutions.
- North Arrow is a small nonprofit mapping consultant and an ESRI Nonprofit Specialty Partner
- 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.
- GeoMarvel - Private consulting firm focused on enterprise-level GIS solutions.
Conservation Planning and Training
Visit these links to learn more about conservation planning and training opportunities:
- The Nature Conservancy – Data & Tools
- Land Trust Alliance
- The Society for Conservation Biology
- Society for Conservation GIS
- The Nature Conservancy
- ESRI Conservation Program
- ESRI Nonprofit Program
- ESRI Virtual Campus
- NatureServe and their NatureServe Explorer which can be used to assess species and habitats for conservation prioritization.
- Conservation Fund
- USGS Gap Analysis Program
GIS and Mapping Tools and Additional Resources
- Quantum GIS - Free and Open Source GIS software available on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS.
- ESRI ArcGIS Pro - Industry standard desktop GIS software for purchase
- ESRI ArcGIS Online
- ESRI Mapping Resources
- Mapbox - create custom base maps for interactive applications
- Felt - a cloud-native GIS platform for making maps, apps, and dashboards
- CARTO - store and display GIS data in the cloud.
- Fulcrum - SaaS-based field data collection and process management platform
- Avenza Maps - offline mobile mapping and data collection
- ArcGIS Field Maps - application for data-driven maps and mobile forms to help land trusts perform data capture and editing and find assets in the field.
- 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. There is also a complementary PADUS Data Viewer available.
- The National Map Downloader - a national data download site, great for elevation and hydrography data.
- National Conservation Easement Database (NCED) - inventory of most easement lands in the U.S. managed by Trust for Public Land and Ducks Unlimited.
- NRCS Web Soil Survey - This site and data can be used to understand soil types, capability, and suitability for conservation or farming.
Jobs in GIS
The following are major web sites that focus on jobs in GIS and related fields:
- LinkedIn - GIS Jobs in the United States
- Indeed - GIS Jobs in the United States
- GISjobs.com
- GIS Jobs Clearinghouse
- EcoJobs (Environmental Careers Organization)
- My GIS Jobs
- URISA Geospatial Professional Network
- ESRI (publishers of ArcGIS products, often have jobs available in software and services)
- GISgeography.com Job List
The cover photo at the top of this page is titled Mapping by U.S. Department of Agriculture, licensed under CC BY 2.0