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Tools: Case Studies

The case studies below were selected to illustrate a variety of ways that local governments, watershed groups and citizens are using place-based and web accessible tools to create a vision for liveable communities and healthy watersheds.

Please check the website from time to time to view new case studies.

Pheasant Branch Conservancy, Wisconsin
Citizens supporting the spring-fed wetland of the Pheasant Branch Conservancy of Middleton, WI employed the L-THIA Web-based tool to evaluate a potential threat posed by the impending development of property adjacent to their preserve near Madison. The analysis revealed that the development would annually send 2 million gallons of contaminated storm water into Pheasant Branch and downstream Lake Mendota. This information galvanized local citizens and the Dane County government to raise the funds needed to acquire the property and protect the resource.

Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, Wisconsin
In response to anticipated development trends, the City of Milwaukee used remote sensing and other tools to identify options for restoration, open space and traditional engineered strategies to prevent future flooding.

Wexford County, Michigan
County locational data was accessed via the web by planners, developers and citizens in Wexford County, and resulted in extensive participation in the planning and decision-making process.

“The end result of a good plan is a good community....

Specifically, it has an economy in which locally controlled assets and wealth are expanding; equity, which means that those expanding assets are shared fairly and public decisions are inclusive and democratic; and a concern for ecology, stewardship of natural and human resources.”

-Plan Fact Book for the Wexford County Plan, April 2002.

Indian River Lagoon Watershed, Florida
Concerns about the environment and threatened and endangered species prompted NASA to commission a study in which the Long-Term Hydrologic Impact Analysis (L-THIA) tool was used to analyze 70 years worth of information to assess potential impacts of land-use changes on water run-off in the Indian River Lagoon and the Kennedy Space Center.

Verona, Wisconsin
The Town of Verona used Planning Analyst, a UW Land Information and Computer Graphics decision-support "toolkit" to work through the planning process, and develop solid information about land uses, get answers to specific questions, and identify areas of agreement. A feature of this work was their use of "interactive" GIS.