Wildlands Defense Colorado

[crisdb]

test

[crisdb]

"WildLands Defense works to inspire and empower the preservation of wild lands and wildlife in the West. WildLands Defense’s activists’ and supporters’ on-the-ground presence, extensive experience enforcing existing statutory and regulatory regimes, and the group’s unparalleled conviction provide managers and policy-makers a clear and competent picture of the conditions of our public lands and wildlife communities on the ground as they exist, as well as lend decision-makers the sense of informed urgency as to the need for policy changes into the future."

[crisdb]

Criteria to move to VALIDATION stage:

• [x] pitched at code for Denver
• [ x] Has to fit C4D mission and vision (see below)
• [x] Named Champion at Code for Denver: Cristine Baumgarten
• [ x] Rough timeline: Three months (?) not sure yet, technology will have to be decided upon and also the experience of those interested in this project. Also, there is the option for more or less styled/refined output of the data captured by the app.

Description

• [X] What is it? A mobile app for iPhone, Android. The public can input a photo from the mobile device that includes time/date and GPS metadata of longitude/latitude, a form for basic information about location/notes, and a flag identifying danger for that colony. Also noted are descriptions such as, is there a burrowing owl habitat near – which may exist on the back-end/mapping software. These are hooks that can be output into maps (d3?). This knowledge, uncaptured before would prevent the poisoning of the prairie dogs currently. Also shown will be eminent danger so relocation can be planned. Likewise, the member/user contributed data can help land and wildlife managers and conservation/animal welfare organizations map out existing occupied prairie dog habitat and monitoring data, an effort that contributes to a variety of conservation efforts and studies necessary to understand and ultimately preserve the species. The data can likewise contribute to ongoing research and scientific studies between government agencies, conservationists, universities, etc. which currently collaborate with the organization.
• [x] Why is it needed? Public supports often wants to help but without a way of inputting data observed, key decision makers and eventually congress, do not have a reliable understanding of how many prairie dogs persist on the Front Range, the range of their occupation, and often times when a lay member of the public identifies a colony that is likely to be impacted - the time and energy required to simply accurately and efficiently identify where the colony exists, whether it exists on sensitive habitat for which there are existing protections, and what management agency/governing body has jurisdiction breaks down between the lay-person who flags the colony, the conservation organization, and/or the governing jurisdiction.
• [x] Why do you care (as champion)? I care about wildlife and I want to use our talents to save the natural prairie ecosystem. It is at a pivotal point where less than 1% of prairie dogs remain. Poisoning affects the entire food chain and as more and more natural habit is destroyed, there is an urgent need for shared data, increased awareness and care.
• [ x] Who does it help? Everyone. The entire natural circle of life (directly, prairie dogs, owls and wildlife managers who lack knowledge of the entire picture for a myriad of reasons).
• [x ] What is the impact? Opportunity to involve so much of the public. Not only can it be applied to prairie dogs but also burrowing owls and other at risk species. Wildlife managers and habitat managers would have the knowledge to make decisions in ways that dignify the wildlife protections that already exist (cannot deny knowledge). Also, the managers will have the notion that there is a public who really cares. If they have the notion that the public cares because they see all the proof than they will implement the protections that exist. Eventually this data would be applied to a congressional bill (long term not discussed in this brief).
• [x] Not something that has already been built: No other app exactly serves advocacy groups in such an empowering way. The biggest problem for advocacy groups is that they can’t be everywhere at once and this empowers citizen activists with a novel way of using technology. We could continue to look for any open source software that could be tweaked.
• [x] Code of Denver has expertise or willing to build expertise: This would be a great chance to work on a mobile app that isn’t overly complicated, hooks into a data store and outputs into some form of data visualization.
• [x] Description of partner organization: WildLands Defense (Four Directors) is dedicated to protecting and improving the ecological and aesthetic qualities of the wildlands and wildlife communities of the western United States for present and future generations. WLD does so by fostering the natural enjoyment and appreciation for wildlands habitats and wildlife by means of legal and administrative advocacy, wildland and wildlife monitoring and scientific research, and by supporting and empowering active public engagement. WildLands Defense, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization.
• [x] What will be provided by partner: Extremely active membership base that will use the app to gather data. Also, a human(s) that will immediately approve or disapprove of publication of a location depending on whether it is public or private land. They will also provide any hardware needed and necessary funding. Wildlands Defense is willing to invest financial resources in the development and deployment of it and is able to engage with agencies and others to see it deploy. (Maybe they could donate/sponsor a Code for Denver event or need).
• [x ] What will be provided by Code for Denver: The mobile app design and development, the export of data to a determined database (virtual, and they can provide servers). This would come out in data visualization which could be as simple as a table and/or something more descriptive and clever such as animated charts/graphs (d3 similar).
• [x ] Who is the stakeholder in the partner organization (name and contact info) http://wildlandsdefense.org/about/who/ brian@wildlandsdefense.org 208-867-0185 Deanna, https://www.facebook.com/savethecastlerockmallprairiedogs/?fref=ts 720-722-1691
• [x ] What is mutual benefit (to partner and Code for Denver)? This mobile app captures geographical and other meta-data and photos that could be applied to any other cause that needs to document and/or track particular images with meta-data and export into data visualization. Also, volunteers have the relevant and exciting opportunity to design UI and UX and develop for a Mobile Application. There is also the chance to learn how to set up query’s to a database and others may want to play with data visualization output API’s. Members can also literally save wildlife and see results very soon because of the active and diverse membership base of the organization who will use the software immediately and with enthusiasm. This will lead to great user testing evaluations and experience. Someone interested in UAT will have the captivated audience to return comments and helpful diagnostics.
• [ x] Passes "fist of 5 vote" at Code for Denver

[wdoug]

Closed as another project already solves the issue