North Dakota NWI Project Kicks Off

During the week of Nov. 12-15, GeoSpatial Services (GSS) staff members Kevin Stark, Nick Lemcke, and Al Rabine traveled to North Dakota as they conducted fieldwork and met with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) officials regarding the current National Wetland Inventory (NWI) update. The scoping meeting, held at the USFWS office in Devils Lake, N.D., included discussions of mapping the prairie pothole region, farmed areas that have been heavily ditched/drained, soil conditions including saline and sodic soils, and other unique areas. The first series of NWI updates will include seven counties in northeastern North Dakota. GSS staff members were able to get out in the field to check pre-selected sites and analyze preliminary wetland classifications, identify vegetative species, and examine aerial photo signatures.