Friday, August 10, 2012
Exhibit Hall, Oregon Convention Center
Background/Question/Methods
The grassroots conservation community of the Chicago area is an internationally recognized pilot project for stewardship of nature. With more than 170 state or federally listed endangered or threatened species, the Forest Preserve District of Cook County’s 68,000 acres are home to some of the highest quality natural communities in the Midwest. Increasingly, the work of volunteer stewards is being amplified by significant investments from public agencies. The added resources require improved communication and coordination among all involved including the landowner agencies, volunteers, restoration contractors, interns and partner conservation organizations.
Results/Conclusions
Restoration Map (http://restorationmap.org) is a web-based decision support tool to help plan, implement, and assess ecological restoration work within Chicago Wilderness natural areas. It has been developed to encourage non-technical stakeholders and the public to analyze spatially explicit data and collaborate in restoration efforts. Restoration Map integrates long term species monitoring data from multiple sources to provide feedback on the effects of restoration work, therefore utilizing an adaptive management approach. Furthermore, Restoration Map has been developed using open source and free software so its use is not limited by licensing fees. We will demonstrate how Restoration Map is successfully being used in Chicago area ecological restoration efforts, and explain how the underlying technology could be useful for other conservation projects requiring a transparent, collaborative, and spatially explicit planning process.