A spatial database was developed for the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota to demonstrate the use of a geographic information system for natural resource management. A key component of the digital database was a detailed soil survey. Range site boundaries were derived by aggregating soil mapping units on the basis on interpretations from the published soil surveys. The problem was that no range survey data including stocking rates and condition class were available for the soil-survey-derived range sites. The only available range survey was a survey that was based on range site delineations from a Missouri River Basin Inventory (MRBI) program conducted in 1961, prior to the availability of soil survey data. The MRBI survey information was correlated with the revised range sites derived from the soil surveys to device stocking rates and condition classes. A 1:24,000-scale map which included revised range site boundaries and management boundaries was produced for each township within the reservation. All polygons on the maps were uniquely labeled to permit discrimination of the potential differences in range site stocking rates due to grazing management practices. The maps and the associated polygon attribute data were merged with maps of the MRBI transect information to derive the stocking rate and condition class for each revised range site within a management unit. The resulting database components were a map of revised range site boundaries within management units and an associated tabular file containing attribute information including stocking rate and condition class.
