Mary Balogh, Regional GIS Coordinator, instructs 19 staff, interns and volunteers from Sherburne,Crane Meadows, Minnesota Valley, Rydell and Rice Lake refuges, in the use of the Refuge Lands Geographical Information System. - FWS photo by Sally Zodrow

Sherbunre NWR hosted a Refuge Lands Geographical Information System (RLGIS) weed mapping training day on June 7, 2007.  Mary Balogh, Regionsl GIS Coordinator, trained nineteen weed enventory specialists including staff, interns, and volunteers from Sherbunrne/Crane Meadows Complex, Minnesota Valley, Rice Lake, and Rydell National Wildlife Refuges.

The weed inventory specialists received a breif introduction to RLGIS and then a plant species list was created for weeds of special concern for each refuge.  A weed mapping base map was created and data was checked out to multiple GPS data loggers.  Then the fun began... Two field data collection sessions were held to become familiar with ArcPad on the handheld GPS units.  The quality of the data was proofed and then checked back into the habitat geodatabase.  The newly trained personnel left Sherburne ready to take RLGIS to the field at their home stations.