GISCorps Volunteer Assisted Highway 13 Butterfly Trail

Volunteer: Kevin Clark

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.

To support this initiative, GISCorps volunteer Kevin Clark provided GIS analysis and mapping support to help the project team organize geographic information, visualize trail features, and establish a foundation for future planning and collaboration.

The project team needed foundational maps and accessible GIS tools to help stakeholders explore the trail and its assets. Key objectives included:

  • Creating standardized maps of the trail, counties, land cover, and other geographic features.
  • Mapping mural locations and other points of interest along the trail.
  • Developing an interactive mapping application for stakeholders.
  • Creating a StoryMap to showcase the Tallgrass Legacy / Life on the Prairie, 1776 mural.
  • Documenting Esri licensing procedures and developing a script to transfer content between Esri portals.

Building a foundation with GIS

Using Esri ArcGIS Pro, Experience Builder, and StoryMaps, Kevin developed a collection of mapping resources and tools for the Highway 13 Butterfly Trail project team.

1. Mapping the trail and its surrounding landscape

Kevin created foundational maps to help stakeholders understand the trail’s geographic extent and explore relevant environmental and land-use information. Deliverables included:

  • A Highway 13 trail map showing Missouri state and county boundaries, the highway, and a surrounding buffer.
  • Regional maps showing karst areas across northern, central, and southern sections of the region.
  • A land-cover map using a national land-cover dataset.
  • An Areas of Interest map to identify mural locations.
  • Maps showing Missouri’s pre-settlement prairie and USDA cropland data.

These resources provide a consistent starting point for visualizing trail assets and exploring the landscapes through which the trail passes.

Image 1: Basemap showing land-cover information
Image 2: A Highway 13 trail map showing Missouri state and county boundaries, the highway, and a surrounding buffer.
Image 3: Regional maps showing karst areas across the region.

2. Creating interactive maps for stakeholders

Kevin developed an ArcGIS Experience Builder application intended to give project stakeholders a place to explore maps and share geographic information. The trail maps allow users to select a county and zoom directly to that part of the trail.

The Areas of Interest map highlights mural locations and links to the associated StoryMap, allowing users to explore project locations and learn more about the artwork. The land-cover map provides additional context about landscape conditions along the corridor.

The land-cover map remains under development, with potential for future enhancements that would help stakeholders identify and select suitable locations for pollinator plots.

Image 4: Highway 13 Butterfly Trail Experience Builder application

3. Telling the story behind the trail

As part of the project, Kevin developed the The Tallgrass Legacy / Life on the Prairie, 1776 StoryMap to showcase a new mural and communicate its story through an interactive format combining geographic information and narrative content.

The StoryMap adds a storytelling component to the mapping resources, helping connect the trail’s geographic features with the places and community assets that give the initiative its character.

In addition to the mapping deliverables, the project included documenting Esri licensing procedures and developing a script to transfer content from a user’s Esri portal to the Highway 13 Butterfly Trail portal.

The maps and application establish a foundation that the project team can build upon as the trail develops. Potential future enhancements include expanding the interactive mapping resources, adding more points of interest, and enabling users to contribute locations of pollinator plots.

Project data was sourced from public datasets provided by the Missouri Spatial Data Information Service and the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service.

Project Complete

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