Oden Island: A Piece of Pure Michigan

 

  While completely unrelated, my first impression of the NRCS Web Soil Survey was that the interface reminded me of the accounting Cisco platform used at my old agency about ten years ago. I recognized many of the icons and the expand/contract features, and the function of generating excel file reports was the same. I remember at the time feeling that accounting platform was a bit antiquated so went into this assignment with that assumption. However, my experience with this platform was much more positive! I appreciated the fact the tool provided correction / trouble shooting prompts to me throughout my exploration. For example, at first I didn't correctly select my area of interest (AOI) and when I tried to click the Soil Map tab, received an error message with instructions of how to correctly navigate.  With this error message prompt, I quickly understood how to select my AOI, as shown here.  From there, I was able to generate a soil map of my AOI, and the corresponding map legen

  Below is an overview of what I find to be relevant climate information for Northern Michigan, particularly my area of study.  The following data and visuals are pulled from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Weather service . The data is pulled from the larger Gaylord, MI area and I have focused in on Petoskey, MI which is 9 miles Southwest from Crooked Lake.  The graph below shows the daily temperature for Petoskey, MI, and includes the observed temperature in royal blue, the recorded high in red and the record low in light blue. Of note is there are several dates in April - June so far this year that have crept up to the record high temperatures.  This second graph from NOAA data provides an overview of accumulated precipitation. Of note is the accumulation so far in 2023 has consistently measured above the normal recorded amount and, in a few moments in April and May, met the recorded highs from 2019. Precipitation so far in June, however, is lower

  Google MyMaps was quite user friendly and, after watching the tutorial video, I was able to create the basic map featured above. There are three layers to this map, including Lakeside Communities and Lake Features (both natural and man-made). A third layer includes Oden Island Nature Preserve and my house as two key reference points.  Edits were easy to make as well, and I can already see opportunity to further update the markers. For example, I'll be on Crooked Lake over the fourth of July holiday and will capture additional photos to add to the markers, providing an in-real time glimpse of my area of study.  I look forward to exploring other mapping tools, as well. Unfortunately, I was not able to download DIVA-GIS or the other examples mentioned given my only computer is owned by my company and I need to receive admin rights to download the software.  The ArcGIS tools seem interesting, given there are a variety of specific applications, including a version for Indoor planning,

 

Oden Island is a small 50 acre island sitting in Crooked Lake in Conway, Michigan. The island itself is a nature preserve, filled with old growth trees and wetlands.  Source: Little Traverse Bay Conservancy  This area is important to me as my family (my extended family, including second and third cousins) has lived in this area for generations. While I grew up in Southern Indiana, we spent our summers and most winter breaks on Crooked Lake. As a child, I spent summers playing in the woods, trying to avoid leeches while I looked for Petoskey Stones on the beach, and taking the boat out to the middle of the lake for a swim or anchoring on the sand bar. I remember when both Asian Carp and Zebra Mussels came to the lake, and my parents telling us how to be on the watch for both given fears of Asian Carp jumping out while someone was skiing, etc. behind a boat, or the deep cuts Zebra Mussels can make on toes and feet. To this day, one of my most favorite things to do (and what truly signal