Thank you to Hoku Nui Maui for supporting me in this venture to get

my GIS certificate. Thank you to Sarah Bryan for her support through

this process. The class was well worth it!

A rough calculation in TIME magazine in 2012 suggests that we

have roughly 60 years of top soil left with 40% of agricultural top soil

seriously degraded (1). Larger scale agriculture contributes to top soil loss,

accounting for an increase in degradation between 10-40 times soil left out

of cultivation.

During the dustbowl, President Roosevelt said, “The nation that

destroys its soil destroys itself” (2). Roosevelt started radical changes and

attempts toward conservation. Today, we are still in need of change.

Farming practices today need to work towards sustaining and building top

soil.

Alan Savory offers solutions to the top soil loss problem via Holistic

Management of Cattle. The theory is high density, intensive cattle grazing in

accordance with grass ideal height ultimately produces healthier rangelands

and building topsoil and sequestering more carbon.

Acknowledgements

Introduction

In order to determine the change in cattle grass species overtime,

Photopoints were set up in paddocks. These Photopoints act as singular

fixed reference points at which a photograph can be taken at bi-annual

time points to determine the change in range grasses through time and

treatment with Holistic Grazing. Additionally, these Photopoints act as

markers for Bullseye analysis. At these points a 4 x 4 foot grid is

established to measure percent coverage and to delineate species types in

the area.

Organic carbon is also measured via soil analysis. Again, soil

collection points are mapped out and analyzed bi-annually through

treatment.

Farmland was under pineapple cultivation from 1978-2004. We

will control on sampling such that Pineapple Land (Plots Pineapple) can

be distinguished from Pasture Land (Plots Pasture) grazed by the cattle.

Control samples will be taken from ungrazed Pineapple and Pasture Land.

Software analysis used included ArcGIS, GPS tracking,

photography, and soil analysis (University of Hawaii Maui College). Arc

GIS mapping techniques included: Georeferencing, Point and Track

upload of data points, export and creation of new Shapefiles for analysis,

Convert KML to ArcGIS Layer to Shapefile, select by Attribute and

location, merge data.

Problem Statement

Does holistic grazing have a significant impact on rangeland health and soil

building? How can we control better understand the needs of the land that

was once in pineapple cultivation. Measurements below are indicative of

rangeland health and soil building:

• Increase organic carbon. Indicator of carbon sequestration and organic

matter in soil.

• Effect of pineapple cultivation on the soil

• Increased plant density and tendency towards preferred cattle grass

species

Methodology

Results & Discussion

The current results are preliminary. In the first map the location

of the farm is illustrated. Waypoints are marked for relevant farm

equipment and animals. Location information provides us with an

understanding of project scale. The property is 1 mile long and 1/3 mile

across.

Map two illustrates the historic pineapple fields in relation to the

farm. Pineapple was in cultivation from 1978-2004. Heavy cultivation

of pineapple has been know to result in decrease soil life in the soil and

is accompanied by many feet of black plastic sheeting. It is important to

consider the overlay of the project area with the past cultivation because

past farming practices will have a large effect on the soil.

Map number three expands on number two, showing the farm

boundary and Tax Map Key in relation to the pineapple fields and other

surrounding fields (c. 1978 cultivation). The overlay shows that Grazed

Pineapple (red) will take up the majority of samples sites. Control

Pineapple will be sequestered to the outer boundary of the property,

where cattle will not graze.

Grazed Pasture can be measured only outside of the currently

demarcated farm boundary, but still within land ownership limits.

Control (ungrazed) Pasture is located outside of the paddock farm and

ownership. Currently, it is not under cultivation.

Finally, photopoints were taking along paddock lines to illustrate

paddock/large scale change overtime. Two sample images are shown to

the left. The landscape images is a “Photopoint” aimed at showing

whole paddock change. The close-up ruler image is one aspect of the

“Bullseye” method, which measures small scale qualitative and

quantitative data. Currently, there is not data to compare… more

required.

Reference 1: Time Magazine

Reference 2: The Conservationist

Use of Geospatial Mapping to Monitor Holistic Farm Practices and Soil Building TechniquesBy Bena Pegg in Conjunction with Hoku Nui Maui

GIS 180 – Ecosystem Management

References

Figure 2: Aerial Photo of Pineapple fields in 2004 compared to 2014. Change in can be seen obvious from aerial image.

Figure 1: Location Map of farmland and relevant farm utilities

Figure 4 – This map illustrates the photopoints documented at paddock

lines. Images are taken so as to get the whole paddock in view in order to

show change over time.

Figure 3 – Map overlay of Pineapple fields in location of the farm. This map is useful to determine

locations for sampling (grazed pineapple, grazed pasture, control pineapple, control pasture).

Photo by: Tony Novak-Clifford

Photo by: Jim Petruzzi