About Sarah
Sarah Porter has served as the Geospatial Operations Manager at U-Spatial since June 2025. She brings more than a decade of experience in agricultural research and the application of geospatial science and technologies to address complex challenges in hydrology, terrain analysis, watershed research, conservation, land use and management, and agricultural nutrient issues.
She is passionate about using geographic data and geospatial technologies to address important social and environmental challenges.
Over the past decade, she developed and supported a GIS toolbox facilitating precision conservation planning across watersheds throughout the Corn Belt. Sarah also served as Geospatial Director at the Environmental Working Group, applying geospatial analysis to support environmental policy, research, and public understanding of agricultural and conservation issues.
Key Projects and Initiatives
St. Anthony Falls Dam Removal Project
This project involved developing modern and historic digital bathymetric surface models of the Mississippi River between Lower St. Anthony Falls and Lock and Dam One (Ford Dam), supporting St. Anthony Falls Laboratory in building a physical model to evaluate sediment transport and accumulation scenarios and assess potential outcomes of dam removal.
Agricultural Conservation Planning Framework Enhancement
This project involved the application of ACPF conservation models and databases beyond the Upper Midwest, including new conservation practices and modeling capabilities addressing aquifer recharge, water retention and reuse, and water quality protection.
Minnesota Nutrient Balance in Agricultural Watersheds
The 2025 Minnesota Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy identified gaps in tools available to help reduce nutrient losses statewide; this project aims to finalize a nutrient balance tool to help identify where nutrient application could be reduced.
Areas of Expertise
- Overseeing U-Spatial operations, managing multi-disciplinary research teams, and communicating complex geospatial data to policy and academic stakeholders.
- Applying GIS, Remote Sensing, and hydrology data to model agricultural nutrient transport, soil health, and precision conservation strategies.
- Lead developer of precision conservation tools—including the Agricultural Conservation Planning Framework (ACPF)—built with custom Python scripting.
- Processing LiDAR terrain data, satellite imagery, and SQL spatial databases for land cover classification and water quality tracking.
Work with Sarah
Reach out, consultations are free for the U of M community.