Time has been flying by since I returned from the National Outdoor Recreation Conference in May. I came home with a list of topics I wanted to research regarding Trails and Recreation as well as a list of Geographic Information System (GIS) tasks to work on.

I spent the month of June completely immersed in GIS. I had two main projects: the first was to provide a web map that displayed fiscal year 2025 projects along the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) and the second was to create a map of Forest Service resources and Colorado State Parks, which could be used to identify gaps in resources and find opportunities for shared stewardship in Colorado. 

I was eager to start on both maps, so I quickly got to work. Both projects started with basic GIS functions, but I ran into obstacles since I had limited editing access to certain data files. I tried finding work arounds to solve my issues but was still having trouble accomplishing simple tasks. I turned to Google and YouTube to see if anyone could explain how they worked through similar situations, but my questions remained unanswered.

I then turned to a GIS contact who was a former Resource Assistant working in my position a few years ago. She gave me some advice and granted me more permissions in our ArcGIS Online group, which allowed me to work more easily with our data. 

As I progressed with the projects, questions kept coming up. My go to YouTube searches weren’t answering my questions so I looked to the Forest Service’s Geospatial Technology and Applications Center (GTAC). I have been enrolling in GTAC’s live trainings since the start of my internship. The trainings have been essential to my transition from ArcMap to ArcGIS Pro and have helped me learn about geodatabases, editing, building dashboards and more. They also have recorded trainings that we can access, which is where I searched for information on certain topics.

Another resource I have for guidance in GIS is the Forest Service ArcGIS Pro Tips and Tricks group on Microsoft Teams. People can post questions to the group and get feedback and there are recordings of trainings that the group has access to. These recordings proved helpful for me while I was working through my projects.

The month of June showed me how important it is to know about the resources available to you and to use them to help you succeed in your work. These resources helped me work through difficult tasks in GIS and learn a great deal in a short amount of time. I feel great about the progress I’ve made in these first four months of my internship and am proud of the work I’m doing to help my team on the CDT and in Region 2 of the Forest Service. I’m looking forward to learning more in the months ahead and to see where I stand at the end of my fellowship.