The loss of state funding for land conservation in 2026 will create challenges for many Wisconsin land trusts. Without access to matching grants through the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program, land trusts will need to make hard choices when prioritizing worthy land protection projects.
When a land trust’s service area spans hundreds of thousands of acres and includes countless conservation opportunities, it can be daunting to identify the very best projects. Land trusts will likely be asking questions such as:
- Which parcels offer the most positive environmental impact for clean water, clear air, and healthier communities?
- Which lands would provide the greatest benefits for native plants and wildlife?
- Which properties connect existing protected areas to create conservation corridors to mitigate climate change?
- Which landowners might be interested in conservation, and how can we make a compelling case for protecting their land?
In the past, answering these questions meant land trust staff would spend hours poring over plat books, DNR maps, property descriptions, wildlife surveys, and land protection records of neighboring land trusts and conservation partners.
Gathering Waters’ Decision Support Tool makes all this research far more efficient by putting the data at the fingertips of land trust staff and displaying it with an interactive map. Land trust staff can quickly identify which conservation values apply to which parcels in their service area.
“In minutes, the Decision Support Tool reveals patterns and opportunities that would otherwise be invisible and difficult to quantify,” said Charlie Carlin, Director of Strategic Initiatives. “The tool fosters collaboration and helps land trusts work more strategically.”
Now, the latest version adds another layer of information, making this powerful resource even more useful for conservation planning.
The fourth version of the Decision Support Tool puts a dollar value on nature’s work.
While the chorus of birds and trails of animal tracks are obvious signs that forests, shorelands, and wetlands provide healthy habitat for wildlife, landowners often don’t notice the trees quietly absorbing carbon from the air, or the spongy surface of wetlands filtering pollutants from water supplies.
Land trusts can now factor the value of these hidden ecosystem services into land protection decisions and proposals.
Nature does all this work for free. But free doesn’t mean worthless.
“The new feature assesses the value of ecosystem services in Wisconsin,” Charlie explained. “What does that mean? It’s a way to put a dollar value on the work that nature does for us every day. Water filtration, flood mitigation, air quality, carbon sequestration, a beautiful view — these are all things that nature provides.”
This new feature uses digital mapping technology to place a value on the silent services that specific land parcels provide to their local communities. These values are based on research linking the impact of protected land to ecosystem services needed to sustain life.
Ecosystem evaluation is another element land trusts can use to translate conservation benefits into language that resonates with community leaders, potential donors, and landowners considering conservation easements.
The Decision Support Tool is now more powerful and easier to use.
The ecosystem service valuation feature is just the latest addition to this powerful program. The digital mapping technology brings together conservation and property information in an easy-to-use visual format.
The Decision Support Tool helps land protection specialists zero in on the data that matters most for conservation planning. The GIS database includes:
- detailed information about Wisconsin’s waterways, watersheds, and ecozones
- identified conservation values and ecological resiliency
- the protection status of properties
“This year, we also focused on enhancing the usability for our users,” Charlie said. “We invested in a reorganization of the interface to make the important information easier to find.”
The flexible mapping tool helps land trusts identify properties that align with their organization’s mission, whether that is protecting shorelines, a specific watershed, or wildlife corridors and forests spanning multiple counties.
This comprehensive data also helps land trusts make informed stewardship decisions.
Land managers have used the Decision Support Tool to update management plans based on each parcel’s proximity to restored lands or acreage overrun with invasive species. This helps land trusts prioritize stewardship resources and use them in areas where they will have the greatest impact.
Keeping the Decision Support Tool current requires ongoing investment.
“It takes a considerable investment to keep the Decision Support Tool up to date,” Charlie noted. “With each annual update, we add all the new land protection projects to the geodatabase. The revisions ensure that land trusts are working with the most current data, making their conservation decisions as informed as possible.”
The Decision Support Tool is part of Gathering Waters’ broader commitment to supporting land trusts across Wisconsin through Geographic Information System (GIS) services.
Collectively, Gathering Waters members have been instrumental in completing more than 3,000 projects, permanently protecting over 500,000 acres across Wisconsin.
Gathering Waters maintains detailed information on all these protected lands to track the cumulative impact of land trust work across the state. For many land trusts, updating an independent geodatabase of their service area would be costly in both time and money.
“Incremental improvements like adding the ecosystem services information are labor-intensive,” Charlie said. “Fortunately, we have the support of generous donors to keep moving these investments forward.”
Gathering Waters provides software licenses and training so all of its member land trusts, large and small, have access to this sophisticated analysis tool, allowing them to make the best strategic land-protection decisions for their organizations.
Whether land trusts need initial orientation training or assistance with specific scenarios for land protection projects, Gathering Waters is here to help them get the most out of this tool.
Learn More
To learn more, visit gatheringwaters.org or contact Charlie Carlin at charles@gatheringwaters.org or 608-251-9131 x15.