Watershed Targeting Program

• Presented by• Dr. Jon F. Bartholic, Director

• November 3, 2011• Washington, DC

USDA Technology Workshop

Productivity and Conservation Enhancement: Mapping, Assessing

and Tracking

Losses of Sediment and Nutrients from Fields

Slide 3

Robert Kellogg, Natural Resources AnalystNRCS Headquarters, Resources Inventory

and Assessment Division

Phosphorus Loss (pounds/acre), Baseline

Slide 4

0

2

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0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Aver

age

annu

al p

hosp

horu

s lo

st to

sur

face

wat

er

(pou

nds/

acre

)

Cumulative percent acres

Upper Mississippi Chesapeake Bay Great Lakes

Means:CB = 3.7

pounds/AUM = 2.7

pounds/AGL = 2.1

pounds/A

High Impact Targeting Decision Support System for BMPs to Most Effectively Reduce NPS Pollution

• HIT combines an erosion model and a sediment delivery model (SEDMOD -Spatially Explicit Delivery Model) to calculate annual sediment loading (correlated with N and P loads) to streams.

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HIT Model

Rainfall

SupportPractice

Land Cover

Landuse/Tillage

Soil ClayContent

Soil Erodibility

DEM

Delivery Ratio

Soil Erosion

SedimentYield

SurfaceRoughness

SoilTexture

Distance toStream

Weighting

C Factor

K Factor

R Factor

P Factor

LS Factor

RUSLE2

SEDMOD1

1. Fraser, R. SEDMOD: A GIS-based Delivery Model for Diffuse Sources Pollutants (doctoral dissertation). Yale University. May 1999.

2. Renard, K.; Foster, G.; Weesies, G.; McCool, D.; Yoder, D. Predicting Soil Erosion by Water: A Guide to Conservation Planning with the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE). USDA, Agriculture Handbook Number 703. 1996.

New Basin Wide System

7- Select watersheds for analysis spatially, by name, HUC, or address.

The DSS – www.iwr.msu.edu\hit2

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The DSS – www.iwr.msu.edu\hit2

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- Watersheds can be shaded by erosion or sediment data, at multiple scales.

Less loading per acreMore loading per acreMost loading per acre

Least loading per acre

Within Watershed Analysis

Field Level Analysis

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Field EvaluationsResults: 70% of the time HIT maps correctly characterized the landscape. locations.

Root River Stewardship InitiativeStatement of Commitment

“Working Together for Watershed Sustainability”

Applications within the Root River Watershed

Root-Pike HIT Modeling

LeastLess

More

Most

Sediment Loading by CLU

Root-Pike HIT Modeling

LeastLess

More

Most

Sediment Loading by 10-meter pixel

Now Let’s Go to Sub-Watershed #7

LeastLess

More

Most

Sediment Loading by HUC12

#

Rank

Potential Gully Locations

Potential Gully Locations

Flow Paths

Field Level Prioritization

Catchment Loads (L-THIA)

Phosphorus 156 lbs.

Nitrogen 560 lbs.

Less loading per acre

More loading per acre

Most loading per acre

Least loading per acre

Field Level Scenarios

No Till

Grass Waterway

Filter Strip

Catchment Loads (L-THIA)

Phosphorus 156 lbs.

Nitrogen 560 lbs.

Catchment Loads (L-THIA)

Phosphorus 90 lbs.

Nitrogen 305 lbs.

Less loading per acre

More loading per acre

Most loading per acre

Least loading per acre

Questions & Answers

http://www.iwr.msu.edu