Intermountain GIS 2019

The use of public lands in the United States has a relatively contentious history shaped by the polarization of stakeholders and management strategists alike. Developments in GIS have significantly contributed to a greater understanding of the natural world as a means of delineating models of best-use scenarios and thereby assisting in public land management. As a general trend, GIS emphasizes quantifiable spatial features (vegetation types or multi-criteria habitat suitability analysis) as inputs to support decisions in management strategies. Public Participation GIS offers a new approach to incorporate stakeholder values and perceptions of public land management strategies. The combination of understanding the landscape as well as the spatially relevant social structure contributes to GIS as a more informed decision-support tool. The blending of anthropological inquiry and GIS provides a unique opportunity for the transference of publicly-derived data into actionable information for public land management decision-makers. This study leveraged Esri’s Survey123 as a means of stream-lining social participation in data collection resulting in an in-depth exploration of how a rural Idaho community interacts with their local public land domain and the inherent natural resources, including the Salmon River, diverse wildlife, and vast minerals and timber. As a relatively recent platform, Survey123 offers a valuable asset for field data collection whether implemented by government, industry, institutions, or citizen scientists.