New GIS App Streamlines Adopt-a-Preserve Reporting

Plus: A Post-Snowstorm Trail Update

GIS Manager Jason Risberg demonstrates QuickCapture during the Volunteer Brunch & Learn on February 20.

Above all, Wildlands volunteers are driven by the promise of impact. In a survey last year, 91 percent of them identified the “satisfaction of giving back” as a primary motivation for their involvement. (Explore our full analysis in the Spring 2025 issue of Wildlands News.) 

Thanks to a new trail monitoring tool, Adopt-a-Preserve volunteers can now give back more efficiently than ever before, amplifying their impact on the lands they love. 

Wildlands’ Adopt-a-Preserve (AAP) program is one of many ways that volunteers make our work possible. By visiting their ‘adopted’ preserve once a month and reporting any issues (such as fallen trees, litter, and invasive plants) to our staff, AAP volunteers help us detect, prioritize, and resolve stewardship needs on lands across our service region.  

Until now, AAP volunteers submitted their reports through an online form after their site visits. In addition to costing volunteers extra time, this approach cost our stewardship team extra legwork—literally and figuratively—to turn AAP reports into actionable insight. They would first have to manually transfer the reports into Wildlands’ digital mapping software. Then, since volunteers’ descriptions and photos of issues on the trails were not georeferenced (i.e., linked to an exact point on a map), our stewards would often find themselves wandering a preserve in search of the issue they had come to resolve.  

Enter ArcGIS QuickCapture, a mobile app that allows volunteer trail monitors to digitally map their observations from the field. Wildlands demonstrated the new tool during a Volunteer Brunch & Learn on February 20 and a recorded Zoom presentation on March 4.  

The upgrade was made possible by the addition of GIS Manager Jason Risberg to Wildlands’ staff. With increasing technological capacity, Wildlands can streamline its stewardship processes, for the benefit of the staff and volunteers who care for our trails—and therefore all who enjoy them, too. 

“We always want our volunteers to know that their efforts have a meaningful impact on our work,” said Stewardship & Volunteer Coordinator Rebecca Cushing. “By inviting them to participate more directly in our GIS-powered processes, I hope that volunteers feel more connected and empowered by the crucial work they do for us.”  

Fully implementing QuickCapture will take more education and time. The original AAP reporting form will remain active in the meantime.  

If you are a current AAP volunteer with questions about QuickCapture or a prospective volunteer looking to get involved, we want to hear from you! Please contact Stewardship & Volunteer Coordinator Rebecca Cushing at rcushing@wildlandstrust.org or 774-343-5121 x 106. 

Trail Update

Wildlands’ stewardship staff and volunteers are working hard to restore access to our preserves after last month’s historic snowstorm. Despite the recent warm-up, trail conditions remain inconsistent—and potentially dangerous. Please exercise caution on Wildlands trails and report safety concerns to trails@wildlandstrust.org. (Or better yet, lend your eyes and ears to the lands you love as a Wildlands Adopt-a-Preserve volunteer!) 

Wildlands Keeps Brockton Beautiful

By Hayley Leonard, Community Engagement Coordinator

Saturday, April 27, Wildlands Trust partnered with the city of Brockton for their annual ‘Keep Brockton Beautiful Day’. The day is an opportunity for community members to come together with the shared goal of cleaning up trash throughout the city, culminating with an afternoon cookout for those that volunteer. This year marks the second year that Wildlands Trust has participated in the event, the first being in 2012 when Wildlands first acquired Brockton Audubon Preserve.

The weather didn’t discourage our dedicated group of volunteers.

Early that morning, despite the dreary conditions, a crew of 11 Brockton residents came together to help Wildlands Trust staff and AmeriCorps members clean up trash from Stone Farm and Brockton Audubon Preserves. These properties are some of the last intact parcels of open space left in the city and together they total about 240 acres. Armed with gloves, trash pickers and bags provided by the city, we made our way into the most littered areas of the properties. We spent almost three hours cleaning and removed around 20 bags worth of trash by the end of the morning. With everyone’s help, we were even able to clear out some larger items that had been there for quite some time, such as a broken flat screen television, an old tire and what remained of a spring mattress.

Volunteers wrap-up after spending three hours cleaning the properties.

Local clean-up efforts tie into Wildlands’ mission of connecting residents with their natural environments – what better way to build a connection with a place than to help care for it? As a heavily urbanized area, residents of Brockton have fewer opportunities to explore natural spaces than those in the surrounding towns of Plymouth County. Events like this are an important addition to the work Wildlands Trust is already doing in Brockton with Greening the Gateway Cities and the Brockton High School Envirothon Team because they provide residents with the opportunity to actively engage with and learn about their environment, and understand how it connects to other aspects of their lives.

SPOTLIGHT ON STEWARDSHIP

Thank you Volunteers!

We had some great Trailblazer days in January, helping clear trees and remove trash from the Great Neck Conservation Area in Wareham and the Tucker Preserve in Pembroke.  Despite some cold weather both mornings, we had a great turn out of dedicated volunteers. Thank you!