Working with GIS tools

Life in Pinedale has been a great experience for me.  I am from Florida originally, so Wyoming has been quite new and exciting.  My primary project at the Pinedale BLM office is Road and Trail inventory.  This project requires superb navigation skills and knowledge of several GIS tools.  I spend a lot of time making maps and playing with our TRIMBLE unit.  The TRIMBLE is a great device for data collection, and I learn more about it every day.  I also do a lot of driving for this project because we must ground truth all of the “potential” roads and trails.  Sometimes, when we cannot access roads with a car, we use mountain bikes or ATV’s.  It’s fun! 

The other projects I have been working on are the Prairie Pothole Project, and Lynx Habitat surveys.  The Prairie Potholes formed from past glacial activity.  They are ephemeral ponds that support migratory birds and several other animals.  Our goal with this project was to take a simple inventory of the ponds in order to monitor the health of the area.  

Prarie Pothole Project

Lynx habitat surveys are really interesting too.  We work on a series of random transect points throughout the woods in the Wyoming mountain range.  This area is unbelievably beautiful!

Pinedale has been a great town to live in.  A local festival known as rendezvous opened my eyes to this region’s mountain man history and culture; it was an awesome time.  I will miss Pinedale when it’s time to leave.