Module 3.3 - Planning Report

  • Due Feb 17, 2023 by 11:59pm
  • Points 50
  • Submitting a website url or a file upload

Overview

Ok - by the time you get to this assignment page you should have developed DRAFT sections of Phase 1 of the planning process: 1) determining problems and opportunities, 2) determine objectives, 3) Inventory Resources, and 4) Analyze Resource Data. We are using this page to provide all the resources you will need to complete a plan. Please see the DRAFT Planning Introduction and Setting Assignment page for a broad overview of the goals for the project and discussion about what is expected - NOTE: WATS and CEWA students have different requirements for this project. Specifically, WATS students should develop their plan for Worm Creek in the Middle Bear River. CEWA students can use Work Creek, but they can also choose any project site/watershed they like to develop a plan for.  

Here we provide the following: 

  • A report outline to guide you through the report development. If you are a CEWA student and you want to use your own agency's report format that is fine - just make sure you try to incorporate the KEY process-based features and low-tech PBR principles into your plan. WATS students should follow the outline but can add other components as they see fit (i.e., more analysis or background information, etc.)
  • Background Documents related to the Middle Bear River
  • Example LTPBR Planning Documents that span a range of detail and cost (please use to get ideas NOT to follow like a formula these documents continue to evolve as we learn more)
  • Condition Worksheet
  • Riverscape tool outputs specific to the Middle Bear River - most of these need GIS to open and view
  • Information on reporting style

 

Outline

Report Outline

Use this report outline Download report outline to develop Phase 1 of the NRCS Planning Phase (Note -  the provided outline does not follow all of the NRCS planning steps). Phase 1 develops the introduces the project and background, broad project goals, landscape and project setting, riverscape constraints and risks, geomorphic and riparian assessment, uncertainties, and pathways to recovery. 

Submission

Expectations

For the final WATS student report, we expect:

  1. Clear writing, a clear thought process, and proper use of citations (i.e. use Zotero, Mendeley, etc.)
  2. Clear figures with full captions (if reusing or adapting figures, cite properly)
  3. Consistent and effective maps (whether done in ArcGIS, QGIS by hand, or Google Earth). 
  4. You'll likely have some questions and struggle through some of this. POST those questions to Module 3.3 Discussion - Planning Questions.

Submission

Submit a word document.

Resources

Background Documents

GIS and Imagery Resources - Work Creek, Idaho

To view many of the Riverscapes tools outputs and maintain layer structure and symbology you will need to install QRAVE Links to an external site. if you are using QGIS or ArcRAVE Links to an external site. if you are using Arc 10.6.1 or higher. 

Worm Creek riverscape tool outputs and imagery - NOTE some of these resources range from 500 mb to ~ 2 gigs

Worm Creek Project Location Links to an external site.

Riverscapes Context Links to an external site.

Valley Bottom Extraction Tool Links to an external site. (VBET)

Channel Area Tool Links to an external site. (CAT)

Beaver Restoration Assessment Tool Links to an external site. (BRAT)

Riparian Condition Assessment Tool (RCAT) ** coming soon

Terrain Analysis Using Digital Elevation Models Links to an external site. (TauDEM)

Drone Photos Links to an external site.

Ground Photos Links to an external site.

StreamStats Links to an external site.

Mapping and Geoanalysis Resources: Brief description and links to more details

For this assignment, all maps can be created either by hand or using Google Earth. If you are interested in exploring more, the Riverscapes Consortium has created several publicly available tools to assist with planning LTPBR projects.

  • Riverscape Context Tool Links to an external site. is a tool that aggregates contextual layers for consumption in other Riverscapes projects. Many Riverscapes tools use nationally available datasets that have to be retrieved from various sources and prepared for an area of interest. This process can be time-consuming, and often the data have to be further processed after retrieving them (for example, a mosaic of DEM tiles, clipping to watershed boundaries, etc.), and these processes can introduce problems into the datasets. This tool resolves these potential issues by retrieving these datasets, processing them, and organizing them within a Riverscapes project automatically. These data can then be used on their own, or as inputs to other tools.
  • Valley Bottom Extraction Tool Links to an external site. (VBET) is a tool used to identify the valley bottom of a riverscape and roughly separate it into geomorphic units (channel, active floodplain, and inactive floodplain).

  • Terrain Analysis Using Digital Elevation Models (TauDEM) Links to an external site. is a suite of tools developed by David Tarboton at Utah State University’s Hydrology Research Group. The Riverscapes compliant Links to an external site., Production Grade Links to an external site. TauDEM, utilizes some of the useful TauDEM algorithms, packaging inputs and outputs into a Riverscapes project that can be accessed as a product of its own, or used as inputs to other Riverscapes tools.

    Riverscapes TauDEM projects take an input DEM and a channel and produce the following outputs using TauDEM algorithms:

    • Pit-filled DEM
    • D-infinity flow direction raster
    • D-infinity contributing area raster
    • Topographic Wetness Index (TWI Links to an external site.)
    • Height Above Nearest Drainage (HAND) raster
    • D-infinity slope raster (percent)
    • Additionally, produces a D-8 slope raster (degrees) using GDAL Links to an external site..
  • Beaver Restoration Assessment Tool Links to an external site. (BRAT) is a planning tool intended to help researchers, restoration practitioners, and resource managers assess the potential for beavers as stream conservation and restoration agent over large regions and watersheds.
  • Channel Area Tool Links to an external site.is a simple tool for generating polygons representing the spatial extent of the drainage network within a watershed. The primary purpose for the tool is that the outputs it produces are used as inputs in other Riverscapes tools. Geospatial tools often use a simple line network to represent streams. Depending on the functions a tool is performing, this can be problematic as a line can represent both a narrow, first order stream as well as large, wide rivers. Many Riverscapes tools analyze areas outside of the channel (for example, to look at streamside vegetation), therefore an accurate representation of the actual channel, not simply a line, is necessary. The tool is comprised of a simple algorithm for combining polygons representing channels with polygons derived from attributes on a drainage network (line). As long as a drainage network has an attribute recording the upstream contributing drainage area for each segment, regional relationships relating channel width to drainage area can be used to buffer the channel segments, and the resulting polygons can be merged with any other available polygons. This gives a first order approximation of the active channel area. As channels are active and constantly moving through time, greater accuracy can be achieved with more recent, high resolution datasets, or with user input (e.g., editing channel positions or channel polygons).
  • Riverscapes Analysis Visualization Explorer Links to an external site. (RAVE) helps you make maps of rivers. RAVE speeds up the process of adding data related to rivers into your preferred GIS with meaningful layer order and symbology.
    • Can be downloaded for QGIS, ArcGIS (10.6.1 or higher), or online for HUCs in the Riverscapes Data Warehouse

 

1676703599 02/17/2023 11:59pm