Monongahela National Forest
Watershed Program Review
NHD Stewardship Meeting
August 11, 2009
Michael D. Owen
Watershed Program
Stream Surveys and Monitoring
Planning, Design, and Analysis
Program Actions and Project Implementation
Program Reporting
2
Watershed Program
Stream Survey and Monitoring Efforts

Project-level Surveys and
Monitoring

Aquatic Ecological Unit
Inventory
Stream Water Temperature
Monitoring
Stream Water Chemistry
Monitoring
Aquatic Organism Passage
Surveys (road stream
crossings)
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3
Stream Surveys and Monitoring
Project-level

Locate/validate water
resource features within
project areas

Identify water resource
issues (existing and
potential) related to project
activities

Assemble or collect data for
project analyses, alternative
development, and
monitoring
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Stream Surveys and Monitoring
Aquatic Ecological Unit Inventory
Tea Creek Watershed
Tea Creek Stream Network
Colluvial Soil
Alluvial Soil
0.5
0
V3, R5
V3, R3
0.5 Miles
#
#
N
#
W
V3, R2
E
#
V3, R1
S
V3, R4
#
#
V2,R1
V1, R1
V1, R3
V1, R4
#
#
#
Righ
t Fork
Tea
Cree
k
V2, R1
#
V1, R2
#
Te
aC
ree
k
#
Lick
Cre
ek
V2, R2
#
V2, R4
V2, R3
#
#
V1, R1
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Stream Surveys and Monitoring
Aquatic Ecological Unit Inventory
Rosgen Channel Type

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Valley Width
Valley & Channel Slope
Bankful Channel Width
Bankful Channel Depth
Flood-prone Width
Channel Sinuosity
Substrate Classification
Inventory/Assessment

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Stream Bank Stability
Riffle Stability
In-stream Habitat
In-stream Cover
Large Woody Debris
Spawning Gravel
Fish Populations
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Stream Surveys and Monitoring
Aquatic Ecological Unit Inventory
More than 95 AEUI reaches
inventoried since 2002
7
Stream Surveys and Monitoring
Stream Water Chemistry Monitoring
235 stream sites monitored
spring and fall for water
chemistry conditions since 2001
8
Stream Surveys and Monitoring
Stream Water Temperature Monitoring
More than 170 stream sites
monitored since 2003
9
Stream Surveys and Monitoring
Aquatic Organism Passage
85 Sites
surveyed
since 2003
10
Planning, Design, and Analysis
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Planning, Design, and Analysis
12
Planning, Design, and Analysis

Use 6th level HUCs as the standard land unit for analyzing
cumulative watershed effects

Use the NHD to initially identify aquatic resources within
analysis areas and locate them spatially relative to other
features

Attribute NHD information with additional or refined data
attained from field surveys and other reviews

Use GIS applications with HUC delineations and refined NHD
data to characterize watershed conditions, assist with
developing project recommendations, and provide a baseline
for analyses and monitoring efforts
13
Action and Implementation
14
Reporting


Watershed PART – assess watershed condition
at the 6th level HUC and track changes through
time
Aquatic Surveys - Forest Service corporate
database (formerly NRIS-Water) for aquatic
resources; NHD framework
15
Concluding Remarks

6th level HUCs are the fundamental land unit used by the
Forest’s watershed program to organize data, analyze
conditions, and report accomplishments.

Stability in HUC delineations is needed to provide a consistent
land unit for managing and analyzing data.


NHD is the backbone for various components of the Forest’s
watershed program - project planning and design, project
analyses and monitoring, and accomplishment tracking and
reporting.
Though highly valuable in its current form, NHD will have
greater utility for the Forest when it is more inclusive of the
entire stream network (particularly small intermittent and
ephemeral streams) and when it distinguishes between
perennial, intermittent, and ephemeral streams.
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“Water is the most critical resource issue of our lifetime and our
children’s lifetime. The health of our waters is the principal
measure of how we live on the land”
- Luna Leopold
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