Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Using Geographic Information Systems To Select Suitable Columbian Sharp-Tailed Grouse Habitat In Northern Idaho, Jennifer Grew

Geography and the Environment: Graduate Student Capstones

The Columbian sharp-tailed grouse was once the most abundant game bird in the Inland Northwest area. The main reason for their loss was the conversion of their habitat into agricultural lands and timber forests. Several variables were incorporated into a weighted sum tool in ArcGIS using public raster layers for each of three seasons. The results layers were analyzed using the same tool to find the most suitable habitat. Six locations in the county had 50% or better suitability. One location showed 80% or better. The grouse historic range appears to coincide with Palouse prairielands in Benewah County. Further research …

Gis And Introductory Environmental Engineering: A Way To Fold Gis Into An Already-Existing Course, Mary P. Cardenas, David Wayne Kelley, Warren Roberts

All HMC Faculty Publications and Research

The use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) was implemented in the upper-division undergraduate technical elective Introduction to Environmental Engineering at Harvey Mudd College. Students integrated technical engineering skills, newly-learned geographical information system (GIS) skills, and the engineering design process, all in the context of the design of a debris flow barrier for a wilderness land parcel acquired by a local conservancy group.

Junior and senior general engineering students, the majority of whom had no experience with GIS, were taught ArcGIS (a GIS mapping program) in the context of an Introductory Environmental Engineering course. Students learned how to map locations, find …