The Institute was founded in 1989 to bring together ecology and economy in ways that strengthen communities. The attempt to pit jobs against the environment was threatening both communities and their landscapes. Rather than buy into this misleading debate, we began working at the local level, within communities, to show that healthy economies and healthy environments are fundamentally linked. In some ways we fell into this trap because we had project ideas for which we thought we were going to use GIS that did not manifest. We quickly identified other uses, but it is still a slow process for us to incorporate GIS into our daily project work.
Specific jobs range from stream restoration and thinning to assessment tasks and mapping.
For one project in 1998, crews were responsible for mapping out some soil types, plant associations, and basic physical characteristics for two forestry units. The final requirements in the contract asked for maps of the data. The Forest Service expected hand drawn maps. Using our GIS system, however, we were able to create maps that completely exceeded the Forest Service's expectations. The intent was to help them see their property as a part of the larger landscape and use this awareness to guide their land management decision making processes.