Watershed
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Watersheds being used to develop the monitoring protocol have been selected
within four large fifth-order and sixth-order Utah river basins (figure
to the right). These four river basins were chosen because they are
areas where watershed approaches are being undertaken toward restoration
of aquatic resources. Two of the basins, Little Bear River and Otter
Creek, have been designated as U.S. Department of Agriculture Hydrologic
Unit Areas (HUAs) established as part of the State of Utah's effort to
comply with the 1987 Federal Clean Water Act, Section 319. A Coordinated
Resource Management Plan has been implemented for the Chalk Creek basin,
and Section 319 funds have been used for stream stabilization and water
quality incentive programs. The Beaver River has been targeted for
EPA Section 319 non-point source (NPS) funding and stakeholders in the
basin are beginning development of a CRMP. Because results of this
investigation could aid the ongoing watershed protection programs in these
basins, we adopted these basins as localities for selecting study watersheds.
Additionally, three of these basins, Chalk Creek, Little Bear River, and
Otter Creek, have been areas where the investigators have had or have ongoing
studies.
For the purposes of developing the monitoring protocol,
we are specifically selecting second-order watersheds on the basis of land
use conditions and data availability. (Watersheds would be selected
randomly in actual use of the protocol.) Within each basin, we are
attempting to select one watershed that is relatively undisturbed and another
watershed with a greater disturbance level. In each of the river
basins, a different type of dominant disturbance has been selected:
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Beaver River basin: Fire
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Chalk Creek basin: Grazing
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Little Bear River basin: Roads
-
Otter Creek basin: Vegetation management
The selection and “pairing” of study watersheds based upon disparate disturbance
levels is intended to accentuate the dissimilarities in linkages among
watershed sub-components subjected to differing levels of disturbance.
However, we will not know until after completion of field studies and data
analyses how significant the differences in disturbance levels between
watersheds actually are. This watershed pairing based upon disturbance
dissimilarity is a space-for-time substitution intended in part to allow
development of the protocol within the two-year investigation period.
Additional criteria are also being used to select the study watersheds.
Watersheds in close proximity to one another were sought to reduce the
potential affects of regional variations in climate, vegetation, geology,
and soils. Significant variations in these four parameters could
add confounding complexities that mask the effects of the disturbances.
Road accessibility to the watersheds and landowner permission for access
are also essential for conducting field components of the study.
Finally, because of the short time frame of the study, we have attempted
to select watersheds with a maximum number of available data of the following
types:
-
30-meter DEM
-
Soil mapping
-
Climate data for WEPP modeling
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Streamflow data on a third- or fourth-order stream downstream from
the study watersheds.
Watershed Information
To learn about a particular watershed, click on its name below:
