Mapping protected territories: Westchester Land Trust case study

Westchester Land Trust (WLT), established in 1988 in Bedford, New York, is committed to combating climate change through land protection strategies such as land acquisition and conservation easements. As one of the first accredited land trusts in the U.S., WLT upholds high professional standards. Gentian Falstrom, the Land Project Manager, plays a crucial role in this mission by using GIS mapping to prioritize land protection projects, despite having no prior experience with GIS before joining WLT. She evaluates potential projects by assigning scores based on environmental benefits, using data from county and state sources, as well as The Nature Conservancy. Recently, she has been working on a public web map for WLT's new website to visualize the impact of their conservation efforts, which presents unique challenges due to the variety of land types managed by WLT and the need to protect the privacy of certain landowners. To address these challenges, WLT has utilized Felt, a user-friendly mapping tool, to create the web map without needing a developer.