GIS of sumac clones

In my last post I discussed our current work eradicating sumac clones. These clones were all located while they still had brilliant red leaves, and were mapped with our Garmin GPS. The data were then converted to Excel and transferred to ArcMap where they were plotted. Each red dot on the map is a sumac clone. I removed most of the other features so that the sumac clones would stand out. We actually have 100 clones, but only 90 are mapped.

I used the color red so that these clones would stand out. (This color is also appropriate because we recognized them by the brilliant red color of their leaves.)

There are lots of sumacs on the south-facing slope as well as in the savannas. However, the absence of sumacs on the east side of the Conservancy may be an artifact, because we concentrated our mapping on the south and southwest sides, because that was where experience had shown us they were most concentrated.

This map provides some real visual evidence that there are lots of sumacs, and makes us feel that we are doing the right thing by getting rid of them.

There is quite a learning curve with ArcGIS, but I am finally beginning to think that the time spent is worth it.