ISU GIS Support & Research Facility
Author: Heather Sauer | Image: Heather Sauer
The ISU Geographic Information Systems Support and Research Facility is part of a multi-university team of researchers that will expand and revamp a science-based, GIS planning toolbox designed to help farmers and landowners identifying the conservation practices best suited for their land. The Iowa State University collaborators on this project include staff from agricultural and biosystems engineering, agronomy, natural resource ecology and management and the Iowa Water Center, in addition to the ISU GIS Facility, a unit within the College of Design’s Institute for Design Research and Outreach.
The team received a $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service to add to and expand the Agricultural Conservation Planning Framework (ACPF), which was first introduced in 2013. ACPF software tools use data for field boundaries, slope, land use and soil conditions for watersheds across the upper Midwest to help guide decisions for siting conservation practices to improve watershed health and water quality.