Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

---

GIS and Environmental Management

As part of a comprehensive Tribal approach to resource management, GIS or Geographic Information Systems has been an integral part of both fisheries and forest management on the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation.

Originally developed in the early 1980’s on the Reservation as a pilot project, GIS has been used successfully by the Tribe in the management of forest resources. Now this concept along with the latest in hardware and software applications has been initiated at TEPA for environmental and land management activities. The department has expended over $85,000 in acquiring the necessary equipment and has already developed data layers or themes for environmental management using GIS. Currently, TEPA has data such as well locations, septic tank locations, and stream data, which can graphically be displayed in a program, called ArcView for the purposes of water quality monitoring.

A more comprehensive software program called ArcInfo is being used to catalog information such as floodplain elevations, geological and seismic data, soil types, archaeological and cultural resource information, building locations, road prisims, contaminated areas, land ownership data, topography, vegetation types, Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDL's), spotted owl habitat zones and a whole host of other spatial information. This data can then be graphically displayed and plotted in large-scale maps for analysis and field verification.

Through the use of Global Positioning Systems or GPS equipment, the GIS system now incorporates accurate mapping of hazardous waste sites, field samplying locations and forest wetlands.

Click Here for More Maps on hoopa-nsn.gov

Click Here for USEPA GIS Page

Click Here for National Park Service GIS Page

Click Here for ESRI Home Page