It’s True: There IS a Map for That!

Oftentimes we take the technology for granted that we use is our daily lives for granted. It’s easy to forget how quickly things have changes and the wealth of information available with just the click of your mouse or the swipe of your phone screen.

Earlier this month, I was reminded of that fact when I helped my mom upgrade her cell phone from an iPhone SE to an iPhone 13. In mere moments, the memory storage at her fingertips jumped from 16 to 128GB. My kids laughed, but I can vividly remember my candy-colored iMac G3 that I splurged on when I graduated college with a whopping 4GB of memory.

The point of this story is not to age me, but to serve as a reminder how fast technology and its resources change. Items that were once only available in hard copy at your local library can now be accessed in mere moments with a few strokes of the keyboard. But if you don’t work with those resources on a daily basis, you might not even realize how much information is easily accessible from your phone or computer.

That’s why Ashland Soil and Water Conservation District is hosting a Conservation Chat: There’s a Map for That on November 13 at 6 p.m. at Ashland University’s computer lab in 227 Kettering. The chat is designed to provide hands-on instruction and experience to Ashland County residents on how to quickly and easily access data for their properties using free online resources.

The night will start out with a look at the Ashland County Auditor’s GIS website. Each participant will learn to search for property parcels, navigate the site, view historical aerial imagery, find out their soil types and even identify FEMA-designated flood zones. With original aerial imagery shot in the fall of 2017, this date was simply not available 10 years ago, and many residents may still not be familiar with the data available at their fingertips through this free county resource.

From there, participants will learn the basics of using the USDA’s Web Soil Survey site. Those of your who may have participated in soils judging contests in FFA may remember the county soil survey books—or perhaps you still have one on a hidden bookshelf at home. Today, all of the information contained in those books (and more!) Is available online through the Web Soil Survey.

With just a few clicks, participants will be able to map areas or properties of interest, identify basic soil types and descriptions, and learn about limitations on different sizes, from depth to seasonal water tables to flood risk to depth to bedrock. And best of all, a detailed and downloadable report can be generated and saved or printed to keep as a reference on specific sites.

For me, the 15 acres closest to my house are made up of seven different soil types with slopes from 0 to 35 percent. Some areas are steep and susceptible to erosion, others are flat and prone to flooding. Knowing those basic soil conditions and characteristics can make a big difference to me when it comes to planning out my land use.

And finally, participants will learn the basics of using the United States Geologic Service’s StreamStats site. Again, with just a few clicks, participants can learn more than they might have thought was possible about the water that flows though a particular property. In my case, for example, I can see that the stream at the end of my driveway collects water from 608 acres (.95 square miles) with the almost half of those acres being forested. By the time it flows past my drive, some of that water has already travelled 1.91 miles from the time that raindrop hit the ground.

Why do those things matter? Well, my 15-feet wide stream is about 1 foot deep. And while a 2-year rain event pushes 122 cubic feet of water per second though my stream, a 50-year rain event ups that to 556 cubic feet per second and a 100-year rain event bumps that up to 677 cubic feet per second. Those numbers may not seem very important to me know, but they are numbers I bet those flooded in August’s heavy rain events in Ashland County might be interested in, and they are numbers I hope my township took into account when they sized the culvert where that stream passes under my road.

Are you interested in learning more about the wealth of information available at your fingertips with just the stroke of a few keys or a few clicks of the mouse? Then we hope you will join Ashland SWCD on November 13 for There’s a Map for That. Registration is free, but space is limited and preregistration is required to make sure all participants have computer access. To RSVP, call 419-281-7645 and ask for Ruth.