Mapping a Better Future for Grand Canyon National Park

Every day, park staff and scientists must make decisions that profoundly impact the future of critical resources related to water, wildlife, land use, archaeology, and more.

The good news? A significant portion of the park was mapped in 2018-19 using Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR). This incredible, high-resolution approach to collecting geographic data is invaluable for producing extremely accurate views of the park’s current state. Using LiDAR allows park staff to clearly understand how and where Grand Canyon National Park is changing—as well as where and when immediate action is required.

Yet more than 1,200 square miles of park lands still need to be mapped with LiDAR. Additionally, park staff currently lack access to critical tools for logging real-time updates about changes they see while working daily in Grand Canyon National Park.

Your Gift: A brighter future for Grand Canyon

Your generous gift will:

• Allow the collection of high-resolution LiDAR data for the remainder of Grand Canyon National Park—more than 1,200 square miles.
• Facilitate the development of data collection apps that can be used by park staff to log real-time change reports.
• Improve long-term environmental monitoring and change detection efforts, including those related to climate change, wildlife habitat, water quality, and archaeology.