The Iowa Woodland Invasive Species Inventory Program is interested in knowing where certain invasive plants are found. Each invasive plant species may occur at any given density, from low to high. Also, the size of the woodland you are sampling may vary from small to large. No matter how dense a plant species is, or how large an area you are sampling, a precise location of the woodland and the invasive species is necessary. It is important that you know exactly where you found the different species you are looking for. For each woodland survey area you inventory, you will need to know exactly where that area is. This program is requesting that you use the Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) system to locate your area(s).

The UTM system is a way of pinpointing a location with a set of coordinates, and can be found using a 7.5' United States Geological Survey Quadrangle Map. Below is a description of how to find a UTM coordinate automatically using a handy website.

Using the Iowa Geographic Image Map Server to Identify UTM Coordinates for Your Site*

1. Go to the Iowa Geographic Image Map Server website at http://ortho.gis.iastate.edu/drg24/drg24.html This is the website that you use to find your UTM coordinates

2. Once at the Iowa Geographic Image Map Server you will see a map of Iowa. There are several ways to locate your monitoring site. Probably the easiest is to simply click on the map of Iowa as close to your monitoring site as you can guess. Or, if you know the quadrangle map you want, you can find it by choosing from the drop-down list located above the Iowa map.

3. The map that now appears is a 7.5' topographic quadrangle map. You will hopefully identify your site and familiar landmarks (towns, road, etc.). If you don't recognize where you're at, use the "hands" on the map to look at adjoining maps, use the zoom OUT (and click submit changes) to get a larger view, or back up and try again.

4. Once you see your monitoring point, try to aim your finger pointer as close to your monitoring point as possible and click. When you do this, the map automatically centers on where you clicked.

5. To the left of the map, you will see scale measurements (200m pixels, 100m pixels, etc.). You are probably at 20m pixels, shown by a little red star to the right. Click on the circle for 10m, or 5m, or 2.4384m pixels, and click on "Submit Changes" to get closer views of your map.

6. Center your map by pointing directly on your monitoring point, while zoomed in at the 2.4382m pixel scale, and again click on your point.

7. When you have centered your map at the lowest possible scale, write down the (x,y) number located in the upper portion of your screen (example: 444827, 4644327). This is the UTM coordinate you will need to submit when you register your monitoring site with NatureMapping. Remember to leave commas out of the UTM coordinates you type into the "site registration form." Also, remember that the UTM coordinates you get from this site are in the datum NAD83 and always in Zone 15. You will need to indicate this on the "site registration form."

*Adapted from the IOWATER Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring training manual