SAG 2008 Winners

Earthjustice

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Project Goal

Earthjustice is a non-profit public interest law firm dedicated to protecting the magnificent places, natural resources, and wildlife of this earth, and to defending the right of all people to a healthy environment. Earthjustice brings about far-reaching change by enforcing and strengthening environmental laws on behalf of hundreds of organizations, coalitions and communities.

GIS is an integral part of Earthjustice's work to protect public health and the environment. Earthjustice's Rocky Mountain Office, starting in 1997, was the first regional office in the organization to pioneer the use of GIS, using the software to map grazing allotments and oil and gas leases in western states. More than ten years later, the Rocky Mountain Office continues to rely on GIS for various elements of its docket. In particular, mapping and analysis assists with the office's efforts to protect public lands and to secure effective protections for endangered plants and animals under the Endangered Species.

In 2002, Earthjustice began a GIS program in its Communications department to better serve the organization as a whole. Whereas the Rocky Mountain Office specifically focuses on protecting the natural environment of the Southwest and Southern Rockies, the communications department uses GIS to service the needs of the other seven regional offices as well as the communication
and legislative efforts of company headquarters.

Three Earthjustice staff members use GIS as a tool in broader jobs; there are no dedicated GIS staff in the organization. Despite that staffing limitation, Earthjustice has since 1997, made excellent use of the technology and available data to strengthen the organization’s legal and related work.
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Business Problem Solved

The Rocky Mountain Office continues to take the lead in the organization’s GIS work. The RMO’s broad case docket reflects the diversity of natural resources and uses of the region. GIS work supports public lands protection, species conservation, clean air and water preservation, public health, and climate change efforts.

RMO generates and distributes maps; perhaps more importantly, though, RMO also uses GIS, and ESRI software and Google Earth in particular, as a reference and analysis tool. The GIS staff are proud of how the function of GIS as an information source has been embraced by the attorneys in the office and how they are able to use the tools to get quick and accurate answers to the myriad of questions that arise during case development and brief writing. The GIS staff often functions as reference librarians in the office and given the nature of our cases and region, the answer to a question is often geographic.

Technology Implemented

ArcView 9.2 on desktop computer installations with server-based data.

Development Team Biography

Doug Pflugh, Research Analyst, Rocky Mountain Office
Sara Watterson, Research Analyst, Rocky Mountain Office
Ray Wan, Marketing Manager, Communications