Geographic Information Systems

Making Resource Management Easier

by: Robert Stewart
SPRING 1998

People have been making maps for thousands of years to show such things as religious holy places, great cities, and important trading routes. In the 20th century, mapping has been extensively used to catalogue and categorize the planet's continents and their ever-increasing populations, the oceans and their currents, and the fluctuating political boundaries of countries. Maps have also helped mankind to take stock of our natural resources: how many trees are there and where are they, what minerals lie in the ground in a certain area, and where are the different types of wildlife concentrated. With this information, we are better able to responsibly manage our resources.

Mapping and information management have taken a huge leap forward in the last 20 years with the advent of Geographic Information Systems, or GIS. Essentially, a Geographic Information System is an intelligent map that associates each piece of data with a geographic location. Through the GIS, the inventory or information can be more easily access be establishing "what we have and where it is". Just as important is the powerful analysis and modeling that can be done. For instance, suppose you wanted to determine the best spot to put a saw mill. Without GIS, you would have to measure the distance from different sites to all far your suppliers will have to travel, what major transportation routes exist, and how close each site is to relatively cheap power. The sort of modeling becomes much easier by using GIS; the computer is able to consider these elements based on the importance you've given to each factor and recommend appropriate sites. Suddenly, your information becomes more useful and dynamic.

In 1987, the Department of Lands and Forestry' Forestry Division began building a GIS database of Nova Scotia's forest resources. Software called Arc/Info was chosen because of its strengths in the area of resource management. Building the main database took approximately 10 years. This involved incorporating historical data, as well as a combination of aerial photo interpretation and field work to gather new information on the province's forest stands. Each stand is broken down by species, height, site capability, how dense the stand is, and the age-class distribution. According to Ken Snow, Manager, Forest Inventory, the GIS has centralized a significant proportion of the Forestry Division's data as well as improved access to it. More importantly, the powerful analytical features have drastically reduced the amount of time needed for a variety of tasks, such as calculating the Annual Allowable Cut in our forests.

The allure if GIS isn't limited to the Forestry Division however. The Minerals and Energy Branch uses this powerful technology to incorporate nearly 100 years of data on minerals in Nova Scotia while making it more accessible. Building their GIS began about four years ago, using the same software as the Forestry Division. The system has been up and running for two years now and has already made a major impact on the way the Minerals and Energy Branch works. Staff can quickly and easily produce maps for displays promoting mineral resources and mining in Nova Scotia, or for geological field work. It also provides a means of keeping track of who is exploring, staking claims, or mining in the province and where they are doing it.

Geographic Information Systems have helped facilitate the Department's roles in the Forestry and Mining sectors. Another area that they have proven extremely useful is in the planning portion of Integrated Resource Management. Norman Lyttle is the Manager of Geosciences Information Services. He explains that the GIS is very adept at showing all the commitments made on a particular piece or Crown land; for instance if there is a mine, a forestry agreement in place, a lease, or a park. It also makes it easier to fit that piece of land into planning on a provincial scale - it can calculate and clearly display how much land is being used and for what purposes.

The impact of GIS on the Forestry and Mining areas of DNR has already been profound. It has allowed the information available to be used much more effectively, and has made resource planning and management more thorough. Though computer tools like GIS can never replace people in the decision making process, they can help us to make more informed, considered decisions. In that way, Geographic Information are helping to improve the management of Nova Scotia's natural resources.

Integrated Resource Management is a planning and decision making process that considers the many interests and issues within the wildlife, parks, forestry and minerals sectors that affect Crown lands. Once these are considered, an operational plan is formulated. This plan attempts to balance the many concerns with provincial guidelines so that long term sustainable benefits are optimized and conflicts among uses are minimized.