GISCorps Volunteer Assisting Highway 13 Butterfly Trail

Highway 13 Butterfly Trail (HBT) is a community-driven conservation and tourism initiative located along Highway 13 in Missouri, spanning multiple counties and communities. The project aims to create a corridor of pollinator-friendly habitats, butterfly gardens, native plantings, educational sites, and tourism destinations that support monarch butterflies and other pollinators while promoting environmental stewardship and economic development.

HBT has requested GISCorps for a volunteer to provide GIS, cartographic, and technical consulting support. The primary objectives of the project are to assess and organize existing GIS data and mapping resources, refine the current Highway 13 Butterfly Trail map, and create a professionally designed large-format map suitable for outdoor metal signage. The volunteer will also provide technical guidance on GIS workflows, data management, and future mapping opportunities, including building StoryMaps and dashboards. In addition, the project includes conducting spatial and demographic analyses along the corridor to generate meaningful statistics that can support grant applications, conservation planning, and project reporting.

The volunteer will serve as both a technical consultant and expert cartographer, helping transform existing mapping products and data into high-quality visualizations and analytical outputs that support the organization’s conservation, tourism, and outreach goals.

Following the recruitment, Kevin Clark, a GISCorps volunteer in Maryland, was selected for this project.

Recruitment complete, project in progress.