Final Poster

Weekly Update 7

I met with Dr. Mangun and she liked the maps! Her only requests were that I make the wetlands and open spaces that intersect transportation corridors a lighter green and contiguous wetlands and open spaces a dark green to differentiate between lands that should be higher on the Town of Colonie's priority list for habitat restoration or wildlife corridor efforts.  She asked for one with and one without the basemap, showing both transportation corridors and potential habitat.

Here are the maps:

Weekly Update 6

Progress over the past week
I sat down for a while this weekend and got a lot of work done...  I finally was able to add wetlands to my map.  I also added and decided against showing parking lots because the data didn't show a good representation of the total number of parking lots in the study area.  I fixed/narrowed down vacant lands after realizing that the original queries I had done were incorrect.  I limited roads to "within" Colonie using Select by Location.  I added in Siena College as a reference point using coordinates from Google maps.  Lastly, I have been playing with the idea of using a basemap.
Here are a few of my options so far: The first image is the newly queried vacant lands with wetlands, the second is adding in roads, highways, railways, and parking lots, and the third is adding the basemap beneath it.

Plans for the upcoming week
This week I plan on looking into the percentage of all impervious structures, rather than just transportation corridors using a new data layer that Dr. Meierdiercks has given me.  I also plan on setting up a meeting with my client, Dr. Mangun, and discussing how she would like the map to look in the end.  I will have a few different final options made up for her to choose from, highlighting different aspects.


Questions

Should I bother doing a union between vacant lands and wetlands or would it be better to differentiate the two? Should I bother doing a union between roads, parking lots, and railways to show all transportation corridors in one layer?

Weekly Update 5

Progress over the past week
I am still gathering my data layers and narrowing down land parcels consisting of open spaces. I still need to officially add in wetlands and I hope to be able to intersect vacant land with wetlands to better represent turkey habitat.

Plans for the upcoming week

Work on queries and map overlay.

Weekly Update 4

Progress over the past week
I am still gathering my data layers and narrowing down land parcels consisting of open spaces. I still need to add in wetlands and I hope to be able to intersect vacant land with wetlands to better represent turkey habitat.
I have been able to narrow down my map to the Town of Colonie and I have decided that I am not going to further narrow my study area to Latham, Loudonville, and Newtonville.
Here is what I have done so far on my draft map, showing the vacant land in the Town of Colonie with roads and railways.

Plans for the upcoming week

This week, I plan on finishing gathering the correct layers... I need to finish finding the Open-space, Wetlands, Woodlands, Roads, Railways, and Parking lots and compile everything.


Questions

When I combine roads, hwys, and rail with vacant land/wetlands should I use a union? I feel like there are a ton of different ways to go about each step and I never know if I am doing it the right way!

Weekly Update 3

Progress over the past week

I have begun gathering my data layers and narrowing down land parcels consisting of open spaces. I have been able to narrow down my map to the Town of Colonie, but am waiting to better analyze the data layers until I (possibly) further narrow my study area to Latham, Loudonville, and Newtonville. Here is what I have done so far on my draft map, showing the vacant land in Latham, Loudonville, and Newtonville.

Plans for the upcoming week

This week, I plan on finishing gathering the correct layers and deciding on the extent of my study area. I need to finish finding the Open-space, Wetlands, Woodlands, Roads, Railways, and Parking lots layers that I have available to me and for those that I can't get myself, I need to ask the the student workers.

Questions

none

Weekly Update 2

Progress over the past week

I have begun gathering my data layers and narrowing down land parcels consisting of open spaces. I have been able to narrow down my map to the Town of Colonie, but am waiting to better analyze the data layers until I (possibly) further narrow my study area to Latham, Loudonville, and Newtonville. I do not have a draft map yet.

Plans for the upcoming week

This week, I plan on finishing gathering the correct layers and deciding on the extent of my study area. I need to finish finding the Open-space, Wetlands, Woodlands, Roads, Railways, and Parking lots layers that I have available to me and for those that I can't get myself, I need to ask the the student workers. I hope to have a draft map ready before vacation.

Questions

Where can I find the Wild, Forested, Conservation Lands and Public Parks?

Weekly Update 1

Progress over the past week

I have finished my project proposal and have begun to search for the data layers I am going to use.  I do not yet have a draft map to present.

Plans for the upcoming week

This week, I plan on finishing gathering the correct layers and deciding on the extent of my study area.  I need to find the Open-space, Wetlands, Woodlands, Roads, Railways, and Parking lots layers that I have available to me and for those that I can't get myself, I need to ask the Professor or my client.  I hope to have a draft map by the end of the week in order to stay on pace with the work plan I mapped out in my proposal.

Questions

In looking through all of the available data, I have found myself wondering if I need more than I originally thought.  Should I include more detail, like waterways for example?

Course Project Proposal

Course Project Proposal

Impacts of Increased Urbanization on Wild Turkey Population

Nick Mancuso

Siena College
Loudonville, NY 12211
March 7, 2013

Introduction:

Wild Turkeys are an integral part of forest ecosystems in upstate New York as well as across the northeastern United States.  While this North American native has adapted to many different habitats in the changing environment, they, like many other species, do have difficulty dealing with human development.  Wild turkeys prefer a diet of nuts and seeds, berries, insects, and trees and when this food becomes scarce or when their habitat changes, the birds are forced to further cope with human impact.  Small areas, such as short lengths of trees and edges have now become suitable habitat for the large birds.

Open-space connectivity is very important to the wild turkey.  Roads, parking lots, railways, and other man-made buildings and infrastructure are notorious for disrupting preferred turkey habitat.  The interruption of natural processes for these birds by a lack of suitable habitat and connectivity can alter mating and foraging habits and have detrimental impacts on the local population’s numbers.

Although the wild turkey population is still plentiful, it would be logical to think that habitat destruction and alteration from human development takes its toll on the birds.  According to the observations of a number of unnamed local residents, with the economic downturn of the last few years coinciding with a lack of new development, the wild turkey population had been on the rise in the Town of Colonie.  In more recent time, development has picked up the pace again and significant plans have also been made for the future – moving further into wetlands and remnant woodlands and removing more and more trees.  In a matter of 4-5 years, the turkey population in the area has seen a noticeable decline, according to observers.  Does this increased development have a negative impact on the wild turkey population?

It is important to have baseline data of the wetlands, remnant woodlands, and overall open-space connectivity, and to have this information mapped out so that we can properly manage the wild turkey population and make policy decisions that will not harm the birds.  Wild turkeys are a symbol of living a simple, “country” life and an overall symbol of woodland recovery.  It seems as though these values and important environmental conditions may be put in jeopardy with increased local urbanization and human development.

Objectives:

This project will include the use of GIS to create a baseline for which human development can continue in the area without disrupting the wild turkey population.  The specific objectives include:

Primary:

Gather data
Map current human transportation corridors in the area
Map open-space, wetlands, remnant woodlands

Secondary:
Map potential wild turkey habitat
Map wild turkey population
*Discover overlap and make policy suggestions to potentially restore and maintain the wild turkey population

Methodology:

Data will be collected and mapped about the wetlands, woodlands, and open-space in the study area and data of human transportation corridors will also be mapped using ArcGIS.  Wild turkey habitat and population range in the area may also be considered and mapped using ArcGIS if time allows, determining connectivity in the study area and its overall effect on the wild turkey population.  A series of drafts will be created and a final product will be constructed and delivered.

Data Sources:

Data will be provided by Dr. Jean Mangun of Siena College and online databases.

Open-space

Wetlands
Woodlands
Roads
Railways
Parking lots
*Natural wild turkey habitat
*Wild turkey population range
*Overall connectivity

Work Plan:

3/4/13 meet with Dr. Mangun to discuss parameters
3/12/13 signed project contract; choose extent of study area (Town of Colonie? Just Loudonville, Newtonville, and Latham?); gather data and begin working with data in GIS
3/19/13 draft 1 submitted to client; map out wetlands and remnant woodlands
4/2/13 draft 2 submitted to client; map out hum development
4/9/13 draft 3 submitted to client, progress presentation
4/16/13 draft 4 submitted to client; revise map, final touches
4/23/13 final draft submitted to client; put poster presentation together

Deliverables

Weekly project blog postings and updates
Final (36x48 Landscape, Color, PDF) poster showing baseline data of woodlands and wetlands in the area, created with GIS

Course Project Proposal DRAFT

Course Project Proposal

Wild Turkey Habitat Mapping

Nick Mancuso

Siena College

Loudonville, NY 12211

February 28, 2013

Introduction:

Wild Turkeys are an integral part of the forest ecosystems in upstate New York as well as across the northeastern United States.  While this North American native has adapted to many different habitats in the changing environment, they, like many other species, do have difficulty dealing with human development.  Wild turkeys prefer a diet of nuts and seeds, berries, and insects and when food becomes scarce or when their habitat changes, the birds are forced to further cope with human impact.

Although the wild turkey population is still plentiful, it would be logical to think that habitat destruction and alteration from human development takes its toll on the birds.  Open-space connectivity is very important to the wild turkey.  Roads, parking lots, railways, and other man-made infrastructure are notorious for cutting off migration routes or disrupting preferred turkey habitat.  The interruption of natural processes for these wild turkeys by a lack of open-space connectivity can alter mating and foraging habits and have detrimental impacts on local population numbers.

Why then has there been a recently observed increase in wild turkey population in the area?  It is important to have a base knowledge of the open-space connectivity, transportation corridors, and even natural wild turkey habitat, and to have this data mapped out so that we can properly manage the wild turkey population and make policy decisions that will not harm the birds.

Objectives:

This project will include the use of GIS to create a base for which human development can continue in the area without disrupting the wild turkey population.  The specific objectives include:

Primary:

Gather data

Map open-space

Map current human transportation corridors in the area

Secondary:

Map wild turkey population

Map potential wild turkey habitat

***Discovering overlap and making policy suggestions

Methodology:

Data will be collected concerning open-space in the study area and the polygons and lines of human transportation corridors will be mapped using ArcGIS.  Wild turkey habitat and population range in the area will also be considered and mapped using ArcGIS if time allows determining connectivity in the study area and its overall effect on the wild turkey population.  A series of drafts will be worked up and submitted to the agency and Dr. Jean Mangun of Siena College until a final product is constructed and delivered.

Data Sources:

Data will be provided by Dr. Jean Mangun and online sources...?

Open-space

Roads

Railways

Parking lots

Natural wild turkey habitat

Wild turkey population range

Overall connectivity

Work Plan:

3/4/13 meet with Dr. Mangun to discuss parameters

3/12/13 signed project contract

3/19/13 draft 1 submitted to client

4/2/13 draft 2 submitted to client

4/9/13 draft 3 submitted to client, progress presentation

4/16/13 draft 4 submitted to client

4/23/13 final draft 5 submitted to client