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Consultants present final sensitive‑lands mapping; county staff told to fold maps into planning
Summary
Logan Simpson presented Madison County’s final sensitive‑lands mapping, outlining five mapping themes and recommending the maps be used in growth‑policy and subdivision updates; staff said a public interactive web map will follow once web credits are secured.
Consultants from Logan Simpson told the Madison County Board of Commissioners that they have concluded the county’s Sensitive Lands Mapping project and recommended the maps be adopted as best‑available data for planning.
"We have concluded our sensitive lands mapping project," said Christina Keer Webb, project manager for Logan Simpson, during the presentation. She described five themes used in the models — wildlife and biodiversity, vegetative health, connectivity, agriculture and water quality and quantity — and said the team layered authoritative GIS data and stakeholder input to produce sensitivity scores and overlays for development constraints and pressures.
The presenters said they consulted Fish, Wildlife and Parks, the Montana Natural Heritage Program, the Bureau of Land Management and other agencies and held three in‑person public meetings in Sheridan, Virginia City and Ennis. Ally (Logan Simpson) highlighted that the interactive web map and layered PDF will show which inputs produced the results and allow users to explore overlays such as climate‑resilient watersheds, wildfire risk and noxious‑weed invasion risk.
County staff and commissioners discussed next steps. Staff said they are arranging purchase of additional web hosting/credits so the interactive map can go live and that the county will likely bring the report forward for formal adoption—so it can be referenced in the growth policy and future subdivision and land‑use work. A county official said the mapping is intended to be folded into future transportation and land‑use planning, and could inform conservation easements, trail planning and wildland‑urban interface standards.
The presentation and the commissioners’ questions left the record with clear next steps but no immediate formal action: staff will publish the web map once technical credits are obtained and will schedule the report for the commission to consider adopting as best‑available data.
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