Rangeland Ecology & Management

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AUTOMATED GEOSPATIAL WATERSHED ASSESSMENT TOOL FOR RANGELANDS
Author
Guertin, D. Phillip
Paige, Ginger
Goodrich, David C.
Nearing, Mark A.
Miller, Scott N.
Heilman, Philip
Stone, Jeffry J.
Ruyle, George B.
Burns, Shea
Wei, Haiyan
McClaran, Mitch
Publisher
Joint Federal Interagency Conference
Publication Year
2010
Body

Soil and water conservation is the keystone to sustainable livestock grazing and maintenance of native species on our western rangelands. Good rangeland management requires the ability to assess the potential impacts of climate and management actions on runoff and erosion at both hillslope and watershed scales. The premise of our research project is that the practice of rangeland management can be improved if rangeland managers have Decision Support Tools (DSTs) that are easy-to-use, built on range management concepts, use readily available data, and are designed for rangeland hydrologic and erosion processes. The project uses the Automated Geospatial Watershed Assessment tool (AGWA) as the foundation of a DST for rangeland watershed management. AGWA is GIS interface for data organization, parameterization, integration, and visualization of models to support watershed assessments; it was developed jointly by the USDA-ARS, U.S. EPA, University of Arizona, and University of Wyoming. The project integrates several ongoing projects to transform the current operational AGWA tool into a comprehensive DST for rangeland watershed management. Specifically, the project comprises: incorporating the Rangeland Hydrology and Erosion Model (RHEM) into the AGWA interface for hillslope assessments; developing parameterization methods that represent the complexity of rangeland sites for different models; developing tools that will allow users to represent and analyze the impacts common rangeland management practices have on runoff and erosion; and developing tools that will allow users to assess the costs of soil and water conservation practices. For more information visit the website: www.tucson.ars.ag.gov/agwa/.

Language
English
Resource Type
Text
Document Type
Conference Paper
Conference Name
2nd Joint Federal Interagency Conferenc
Collection
  • Articles, citations, reports, websites, and multimedia resources focused on rangeland ecology, management, restoration, and other issues on American rangelands.