Shawnee National Forest using geospatial technology to keep track of 290,000 acres of forest

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - The Shawnee National Forest in Southern Illinois sits between the Ohio River and Mississippi River and home to oak and hickory forests, along with wetlands, grasslands, canyons and bluffs.

So how do you keep track of 290,000 acres of forest?

The answer: by using geospatial technology.

"We can create maps, we run analysis and we develop tools that specialists can use to collect data," said Jeremy Vaughn, US Forest Service, Zone G-I-S coordinator for the Shawnee and Hoosier National Forests.

Vaughn says the data from using geospatial technology has helped them with many things, from preparing for the eclipse earlier in the summer to recently routing a mountain bike trail using miles of trails that weren't originally designated, despite having existed.

"We had partners helping us, they GPS trails that were not designated but they existed on the ground," said Vaughn. "We took that data of those trail locations and we made maps from it, ran analysis from it."

Vaughn says geospatial technology is helping them receive more information about the area and allows them to make better decisions.

"From that, we kind of proposed what trails we wanted to designate as a mountain bike and we took that and sent it for public comment," said Vaughn. "After we got that back in, we took put all this information and designated the trails for mountain bike use."

Vaughn says the use of geospatial technology has helped them create a more interactive map on their website for visitors rather than just sending a map on a PDF.

"As technology keeps getting better, we are kind of moving more towards a interactive-style map so you aren't stuck with 'here's what the map is'," said Vaughn. "You can actually click or zoom in on a site, get a little bit of more information."

"Sometimes it's hard to show everything we got going on, but that's kind of the direction we are moving towards."