Grant/Adams County 4-H'ers Geocache and Map Fairgrounds for Emergency Preparedness
By Betsy Fradd, WSU Extension 4-H
It was a day of technology and mapping out the future for a group of 4-H youth, their families, and the community in Grant-Adams County.
Using Global Positioning System (GPS) units youth learned how to collect waypoints at the Grant County Fairgrounds which has been designated as the statewide emergency relief zone in the event of a catastrophe.
“We began with geocaching which is a fun way of practicing on the GPS units,” said Diane Russo of WSU Extension Grant-Adams. Youth and adults went in teams using coordinates to find treasures and returned for a prize.
A national ESRI grant provided GIS software and licensing which will assist in adding Washington State and the county to the list of emergency preparedness sites which have been technologically mapped.
4-H Leader Jennifer Merrill showed how the GIS program ArcView worked on laptops while newly trained parents collected waypoints for data entry. The waypoints were then entered into the system allowing a map to be generated of the Grant County Fairgrounds.
“The inclusion of GIS at the club level helped prepare the youth in Grant-Adams area for higher education and employment in the fields of science and engineering,” said Russo. With valuable skills learned through the 4-H program, youth discovered new interests and professional goals.”
posted July 2009