4-H youth programs have included mapping greater prairie chicken habitat in Minnesota.(image credit: Juancarlos Giese)

For almost ten years, 4-H members have been developing GPS and GIS skills through community mapping projects. With software grants from ESRI, youth in over 700 4-H groups nationwide have employed geospatial technologies in projects in rural, suburban and urban communities and natural areas.

A partnership between 4-H and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spans over 30 years. Last year, FWS and 4-H National Headquarters, USDA, began a new pilot program in four states that brings 4-H youth to wildlife refuges to conduct GIS mapping.

Refuges provide a real-world opportunity for the youth to learn and apply mapping skills. In the process, they discover the importance of refuges and the resources that exist there. Youth meet and work with staff and learn about the various jobs that are needed at a refuge. Youth and adults work together to complete projects that provide valuable data that would be challenging to collect without the youth.

The first projects are in Iowa, New York, Kansas and Minnesota. Several new refuges and hatcheries will be added in the coming year. As examples of these efforts, Iowa youth will map features such as fences, invasive species, oak stands and areas that need attention. The team is working with Iowa State Extension GIS staff to test the effectiveness of mapping using iPhones compared with GPS units.  The Minnesota project engages teens on the White Earth Indian Reservation with FWS staff to conduct golden-winged warbler habitat and nesting cover mapping at the Tamarac Refuge and prairie chicken habitat mapping at Hamden Slough Refuge.

These projects will provide models that can be replicated at refuges and hatcheries or similar natural areas. Project participants will share their experiences at several national 4-H and wildlife conservation conferences during the next year.

Jim Kahler, Program Specialist – 4-H Science, 4-H National Headquarters, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Did you like this? Share it: