Using Google Earth to review and comment on the Pacific County Voluntary Stewardship Program Maps

NOTE: Google Earth Pro is available free for download at https://www.google.com/earth/download/gep/agree.html. If you do not have a license key, use your email address and the key GEPFREE to download and sign in.

Overview • The purpose of the mapping component of the VSP is to determine where agricultural lands intersect with critical areas in Pacific County. • Map layers for review include: o Agricultural lands – Please focus your review on this layer. While most of the other layers come from state and federal data sources, this layer is informed primarily by local sources. o Critical aquifer recharge areas o Erosion hazard areas o Fish and wildlife habitat conservation areas (aquatic habitats and species) o Fish and wildlife habitat conservation areas (birds and terrestrial species and habitats) o Fish and wildlife habitat conservation areas (waters of the state) o Frequently flooded areas 1 (FEMA floodway and Flood District No. 1 Frequently Flooded Areas) o Frequently flooded areas 2 (FEMA 100-year floodplain) - NOTE this is a large file, and may take several minutes to load o Landslide hazard areas and mine hazard areas o Seismic hazard areas and tsunami hazard areas o Wetlands

Basic navigation • To open a map, double-click on the KMZ file (e.g. PacCoVSP_Agriculture_20160620.kmz). If you have Google Earth, it should open and zoom to Pacific County. • Click and drag to pan/move the map. • Use a scroll mouse or the slider in the top right corner of the Google Earth window to zoom in and out. • If you’d like to move to a specific location, type the place name (city name, address) into the “Search” bar at the top left corner of the Google Earth window. • You can adjust a layer’s transparency in order to view the aerial image below (see Figure 2).

Storing comments 1. Right-click on “Temporary Places” in the Places table of contents. Select “Add”  “Folder” 2. Type the name of the folder in which you will store your comments. Please include your name or initials in this folder name.

3. Record a location-specific comment using Google Earth’s “push-pin” feature (see Figure 1): a. Zoom to the location on the map where you’d like to make a comment. b. Right-click on the comments folder you created in step 2 above. Select “Add”  “Placemark” c. A dialogue box will open, and a yellow flashing push-pin will appear on the map. Click and drag on the push-pin to move it to the location you want. d. In the dialogue box, enter a name for the comment (e.g. “Comment 1” or “Ag land”). You can add further text in the “Description” tab in this dialogue box. e. When you’re done editing your comment, click “OK” 4. Repeat step 3 for each comment.

Sharing comments • Right-click on your comments folder and select “Save Place As….” A dialogue box will open; name and save the file on your computer. It will be saved as a KMZ file. • You can open this KMZ file in Google Earth to view and/or edit your comments. • Please send your KMZ file as an email attachment to [email protected]

More resources • Google Earth help on using placemarks: https://support.google.com/earth/answer/148142?hl=en • Youtube introduction to Google Earth placemarks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_q7CiY76iOo

Figure 1: Recording a location-specific comment using the “push-pin” feature

Figure 2: Adjusting the layer’s transparency in order to view the aerial image underneath