Friends of the San Juans has been awarded a three-year support grant, worth $5,000 per year, from the Environmental Systems Research Institute Conservation Program to develop a geographic information system.

The nonprofit public interest organization uses geographic information systems to integrate, understand and utilize large volumes of existing and new data and to create clear, understandable and usable information for natural resource protection and restoration. Use of the systems integrates natural resource data into comprehensive plans and development regulations, such as critical areas ordinances. The information is also used for public education and outreach.

During the next two years, the organization will use the program’s products to identify nearshore habitat stressors; prioritize habitat restoration opportunities to improve juvenile salmon and forage fish survival; create an incentive program for landowners to improve improperly designed mooring buoys, and help restore eelgrass habitats in San Juan County.

Currently, the Friends’ Nearshore Habitat Database has more than two and a half terabytes of environmental/conservation data stored. This will increase to approximately four terabytes by next fall. Some resources already created include: Forage Fish Spawning Habitat Mapbook, Eelgrass Habitat Mapbook, the Nearshore Habitat Protection Blueprint, San Juan County Nearshore Impacts Mapbook, Eelgrass Restoration Mapbook, geographic information systems based Water quality monitoring program, San Juan County Barge Landing Site Mapbook, Best Available Science Data Mapbook, Bull Kelp Habitat Mapping, and the Analysis of Shoreline Permit Activity for San Juan County, Washington 1972-2005.

For more information on any of these projects, contact the Friends office at 378-2319 or at www.sanjuans.org.