GIS II

Karner Blue Butterfly Habitat Status in Eau Claire, Wisconsin Goals/Introduction The goal of this geospatial project was to  identify regions within Eau Claire County that would best support a new Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) State Areas For wildlife Enhancement (SAFE) site for the Karner Blue Butterfly. (KBB) This project is of importance because the KBB is an endangered species with specific requirements for growth and development. The CRP SAFE sites focus on these measurements. The sites are contracted areas of land set aside by farmers in accordance with NRCS standards. The farmers receive a monetary benefit for these contracted sites and the butterflies have more available habitat as a result. The sites aim to preserve/restore native plant prairie/open oak savannah species which are more able to meet the needs of the KBB, along with other species of butterfly. A specific seed mix is used for the sites to ensure that the desired spread of plants is most likely to grow.

Introduction The purpose of this lab was to familiarize the reader with the process of Geodatabase creation and managem ent methods used for a personal spatial project. The project started with personal research in the summer of 2017 which involved fieldwork and data collection. The area of interest is Eau Claire County, WI, and concerns Karner Blue Butterfly SAFE contract sites between the NRCS and local landowners. The personal data collected was used for analysis of map documents. Additional data used in this project was obtained from organizations, previous studies, and research done by individuals who are well versed on the topic. The geodatabase grouped all of this data into one convenient location. The vision and purpose of the GDB and project are to highlight the areas of Eau Claire County that are most favorable for Karner Blue Butterfly conservation sites. The data is contained within a file geodatabase, it was reasoned that a personal geodatabase may limit the potential o