Mapping John Ball Zoo’s Habitat Hero Program

Abstract:

As urbanization and suburban sprawl continue to spark the conversion of natural areas to low-intensity development, wildlife populations are more susceptible to habitat loss and fragmentation – particularly pollinator species. To mitigate these effects and to increase pollinator connectivity and habitat across an urban environment, the John Ball Zoo Conservation Team has formed the Habitat Hero program over the last three years (2022-Present), which distributes over 2,000 native plants to community members across Grand Rapids and the West Michigan region.  The data generated in previous years did not provide the Conservation Team with the level of detail desired to conduct accurate geospatial analyses.  Using participatory GIS and community science, a framework for pollinator habitat restoration in urban environments has been created, with a focus on establishing corridors of native host & nectar plants for pollinators through the Grand Rapids metro area.  This project explores the results from the 2024 Habitat Hero season, analyzing the spatial distribution of participants and identifying Habitat Hero corridors throughout the city.  Moreover, this research includes some of the conditions needed for a mid-sized conservation organization or school to replicate this program in a low-cost, highly effective manner. The GIS analyses for this research was conducted on ArcGIS Online (Survey 123, Dashboard, Community Analyst), and open-source data was downloaded from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Michigan Open Source GIS Database.

Keywords: Community Science, Participatory GIS, Habitat Restoration, Environmental Geography

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