Creating Conservation Practices

From Wikiagro.com

This exercise is included in the tutorial: GeoAgro for CNMP Development

In this exercise, you will review how to draw sample Conservation Practices in GIS

Exercises

Exercise 01 - Download sample data

Start GeoAgro GIS by double clicking on its icon at your desktop; you may also run it by using the Windows® Start menu.

The Project Selection window will pop up.

Follow the steps from this link to download the sample datset for this tutorial and create the project 'Sample CNMP' as indicated there.

Exercise 02 - Draw identified practices in the GIS

1. Zoom in to the farm by double clicking on the “Fields_NRCS” layer in the left panel. You may use the Zoom Tools to zoom in or out.
   
   
2. You will see the map below, with Land units 19-3, 19-4 and 19-5.
   
   
   Let’s assume that we are going to create the following Conservation Practices:
   * 328 Conservation Crop Rotation – let’s apply this partially, in the lower part of the field 19-3.
   * 393 Filter Strip – it will be offset from the stream.
   
   
3. Let’s create the Filter Strip first. Turn on the layer "Practices_polygon".
   
   
   
4. And then click on Layer "Streams" to make it active.
   
   
   
5. We are going to create a contour buffer area, covering a 150 ft width from the stream. Select the Stream by clicking on the Rectangle Selection  tool, and then drawing a rectangle including all or part of the stream.
   
   
   
6. In the Edit Layer's Objects Panel there is a tool called Offset . Click on it.
   
   
   The offset screen will appear. Select -150 ft as the distance (so the offset is drawn below the stream line, otherwise it’s drawn above). Select as a Target layer: Practices_polygon. Make sure that you choose the option 'Line to Polygon'.
   
   
   Click on “Accept”.
   The filter strip is drawn now. You will need to cut it so it reflects the actual acreage on Land Unit 19-3. First, select the recently created buffer strip.
   
   
7. Select the recently created strip. In the Edit Layer's Objects  panel there is a tool called Divide  . Click on it.
   Then, draw a vertical line to cut the filter strip (points 0 and 1 in figure below). Double click to finish.
   
   Please note: in the upper left corner there is a Snap Option that allows you to draw more accurately. You can set it to 'Fields_NRCS' to make sure that you snap to the field boundaries when cutting the filter strip.
   
   
8. Do the same operation to divide the filter strip using a horizontal line, as shown in figure below (again, points 0 and 1). Double click to finish.
   
   
   
9. If you wish you can delete polygons outside field 19-3 by selecting them and using the Delete Object  tool.
   The remaining filter strip is shown below, if you select and click on the info tool, you can see its area, approximately 6 Acres.
   
   We will use this area when uploading this conservation practice to the NCPDB.
   
   
10. Now let’s create the area where we want to do conservation crop rotation.
    Click on layer "Practice_polygon" to make it active. Then go to Edit Layer's Objects panel and click on the Add a new object  tool.
    Make sure that the Snap option is set to layer “Fields_NRCS”, for better accuracy.
    
    
    Start drawing the polygon in the south part of the field, to start forming the following figure.
    
    Continue digitizing until you complete the area where we plan to apply conservation crop rotation. Your Conservation practice polygon should look like this:
    
    
    
11. If you select this polygon and click on the Info tool, the approximate acreage is 88 acres.