All users are able to design the map by selecting what data layers to show, explore the map using pan and zoom functionality, and investigate data sets pertaining to juniper as well as wildlife species, protected lands and management. To access all the key features of this tool, you'll need to be a registered user. To do this simply click on the "Register" button located in the upper right hand corner of the tool. You will be prompted to create a unique username and password and to share your email address. You can only have one email address per account. Once you have entered your information an email will be sent to the email address you provided with an activation link. If you encounter any problems while registering please email ksdev@ecotrust.org. If you are already a registered user you can sign in by clicking the "Sign In" button located in the upper right hand corner of the tool using your username and password. While you must be a registered user to access the tools full functionality, you can map and explore the multitude of data layers that were compiled for this the tool without registering. While the key purpose of this tool is to assist BLM in prioritizing areas for juniper management, the tool is available to interested individuals, organizations and/or agencies to create priority scenarios, collaborate and share those scenarios, as well as visualize the many datasets that support the underlying analysis. To launch the tool simply click on the "Oregon Juniper Management Tool" title listed on the upper left hand corner of this webpage.
To begin exploring the Juniper Management Tool click the “Select Data to Map” tab at the top of the map page. You will see seven data themes that organize the spatial data into logical groupings.
The Base Map heading at the top of the tree view will have different base maps to choose from. Different base maps are contributed from various organizations such as ESRI, Mapbox, National Geographic and Ecotrust. To further orient yourself click on the Base heading to add additional base data layers such as cities, highways, rivers and BLM lands. Please note that the base data layer called "Planning Unit" is the area of analysis determined by BLM at the beginning of this project. "Planning Units" are derived from 5th field HUCS (i.e. watershed scale) and serve as the area of analysis for all summarized and priority scenario outputs of the tool. The map will initially have the following layers selected as a base map for you: Planning Units, city names and basic terrain.
Additional data sets can be added or removed from your map from the following themes; Juniper, Wildlife Species, Management, Areas to Avoid/Costs, Summarized Data by Planning Unit. To explore these layers, click on the arrow next to the heading and a tree view will expand exposing the layers. Click on the check box next to the desired layer and you will see it appear on the map. The icon to the left of the data layer name with a white "i" in a black circle is the "Information" icon. Click on it to see a short description of the data layer. Most themes are self explanatory by their naming convention (i.e. Wildlife Species), however, "Areas to Avoid/Costs" and "Summarized Data by Planning Unit" deserve further explanation for first time users of the tool. The data sets in the "Areas to Avoid/Costs" theme relate directly to creating a new prioritization scenario. Please review Build Scenarios below to learn more about these data layers. The "Summarized Data by Planning Unit" theme exists so that users can visualize spatial patterns of density for varying Juniper phases and Areas to Avoid. All summarized data are also available to examine as an individual layer in the appropriate data theme.
The interactive map also allows you to access planning unit information directly from the map window. To learn the name of a specific planning unit simply hover your mouse over the planning unit in question. You can also click on each planning unit in the map for additional summarized information such the acreage of juniper phases, BLM wilderness lands, etc.
Once you have Selected Data to Map you can customize the look of your map by clicking on the middle tab at the top of the map page. You will see the data layers that you selected previously. To the left of the data layer name there are three icons. The first icon to the left of the other two is a white "i" in a black circle. This is the "Information" icon. Click on it to see a short description of the data layer. The middle icon with a half white and half black circle is the "Transparency" icon. Click on this icon to change the transparency of individual data layers. Transparency is particularly helpful when showing overlap between data layers, such as sage grouse habitat and juniper data. The last icon on the right, the black X is the "Remove" icon. Click on this icon to remove the data layer from the map. Finally, you can rearrange the order of the data layers in the map by clicking and holding the data layer and dragging it to the desired location. This is a very important step since the order the data layers stack on top of each other relates to the order that you selected. So if you first chose a base map, then juniper stands, then roads you would not see the roads or the juniper data because they are "below" the base map. You can see this in the View Data Selected tab. The base map will be on top, the juniper stands will be in the middle, and the roads will be on the bottom. In this example you would want to click and drag the base map to the bottom of the map, the juniper stands to the middle, and the roads to the top. Experiment and explore the multitude of ways that you can visualize the various data layers.
This feature is only available to registered users. To begin, click the Build Scenarios tab. This will show you a list of all previously created scenarios with other descriptive information. You can either review a former scenario that you created by simply clicking on the scenarios name, or you can create a new prioritization scenario by clicking on the "Create New Scenario" button. This will open the New Prioritization Scenario page. There are four steps to creating a new prioritization scenario; 1) Select Target, 2) Management Objectives, 3) Areas to Avoid, and 4) Describe. The first step asks you to select the planning units that best define areas of your management interest. The second step asks you to specify acreage to target for each management objective. Use the sliding bar to the right (towards "high") to increase the amount of acres you're targeting. The third step sets the prioritization costs. This step allows you to select specific areas that are to be avoided in your new prioritization scenario. To review what these data sets (or any others available in the tool) look like in relation to your management objectives you can go back to the "Select Data to Map" and the "View Data Selected" tabs at any time to alter the look of your map. The final fourth step asks you to name and describe the new prioritization scenario for future reference. When you are done, simply click the "Run Scenario" button to begin processing your new scenario.
Once your new prioritization scenario is processed the results will immediately be displayed both on the map and on the page. The map will highlight the planning units that met your management objectives, while avoiding the costs. The page will have four tabs that allow you to further evaluate the selected planning units and output of the prioritization scenario tool; 1) Inputs, 2) Management Objectives, 3) Planning Units, and 4) Reports. The "Inputs" tab simply allows you to review the the Management Objectives and the Areas to Avoid that you selected for the current scenario. The "Management Objective" tab shows whether the management goal was met or not within a summarized chart. The chart lists whether the goal was met for one or many objectives, the total acres captured and the percentage of total acreage captured within the selected planning units. The "Planning Units" tab lists each Planning Unit selected to meet your management goal. To see where any particular Planning Unit is located on the map you can click anywhere on the Planning Units row. The map will center to that Planning Unit and a black arrow will appear pointing at the Planning Unit in question. The right column lists the name of each Planning Unit. To the right of the name you will each Area to Avoid that you selected when building the scenario. There is a ranking of high, medium ("med"), and low listed below each of the Areas to Avoid. A value of "low" means that the Planning Unit has below average summarized acreage when compared to all Planning Units selected and analyzed in this scenario. A value of "med" means that the Planning Unit has average summarized acreage when compared to all Planning Units selected and analyzed in this scenario. A value of "high" means that the Planning Unit has above average summarized acreage when compared to all Planning Units selected and analyzed in this scenario. Therefore, if you see that Alvord Lake has a "low" Area of Environmental Concern (ACEC) yet "high" BLM Wilderness Lands, this means that treating for Juniper in Alvord Lake will help you meet your management objectives, and while there is low ACEC acreage there is high acreage of BLM Wilderness Lands present in the watershed. Remember, at any time you can go back to the Select Data to Map tab and add additional data layers (such as BLM Wilderness Lands and ACEC) to review and compare to your prioritization scenario results. The final "Report" tab lists a variety of summarized acreage information for each selected Planning Unit. The right column lists the name of each Planning Unit. Simply scroll through the data columns to find a wealth of additional information. As on the "Planning Units" tab you can see where any particular Planning Unit is located on the map by simply clicking anywhere on the Planning Units row. The map will center to that Planning Unit and a black arrow will appear pointing at the Planning Unit in question.
At any point while reviewing your results you can use the 6 buttons at the top of the page to do the following: 1) Return to List, 2) Edit, 3) Copy, 4) Download, 5) Share, and 6) Delete. The "Return to List" button is located on the far left. Click on this button to return to the Build Scenarios page. The "Edit" button allows you to edit the inputs of your current scenario. The "Copy" button creates a copy of the current scenario and saves it in the scenario list on the Build Scenarios page. The "Download" button will zip the results of your prioritization scenario as a shapefile for use in GIS software. Additionally, you can select other scenarios to create an "array"; i.e. an aggregate of the results from all selected scenarios. At present the report attributes are not yet available for download in this iteration of the tool. The "Share" button allows you to share the current scenario with particular groups that have been created. To create a new group contact ksdev@ecotrust.org.