Major Aquatic Data - An Overview
Monongahela National Forest
NHD Stewardship Meeting
Elkins, West Virginia
August 11, 2009
Samuel R. Lammie, GISP
Geographer
Monongahela National Forest
200 Sycamore Street
Elkins, WV 26241
Geographic 38º 55’ 43.48” N 79° 58’ 38.51” W
Tel: 304-636-1800 ext 207, Fax: 304-636-1875
Email: slammie@fs.fed.us
“Whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting”
Mark Twain
GIS aquatic datasets
 Hydrologic units (HUC
4th,
5th,
Youghiogheny
05020006
6th)
 1:24000 scale NHD high resolution stream
reaches
 1:4800 scale local resolution
 100 ft riparian buffers
 Major rivers (and lakes)
North Potomac
02070002
Tygart
05020001
Elk
05050007
Cheat
05020004
South Potomac
02070001
Gauley
05050005
Greenbrier
05050003
The Monongahela National Forest (MNF) contains the headwaters of five major river systems: the Monongahela, Potomac,
Greenbrier, Elk, and Gauley Rivers. Twelve river segments on the MNF are considered eligible for potential inclusion in the National
Wild and Scenic Rivers System. There are more than 600 miles of coldwater streams and 350 miles of warm water streams across the
Forest. Although the State of West Virginia manages many stream segments as put-and-take trout fisheries with seasonal trout
stocking, some estimates indicate that 90 percent of West Virginia’s native brook trout streams occur on the MNF.
GIS aquatic datasets
 As shapefiles
 As file geodatabases
ArcGIS Diagrammer
Hydrologic units
 wbdhu8
 wbdhu12
Hydrologic units and their relevance to
project work
 Upper Greenbrier watershed assessment
(north half of Deer Ck-Greenbrier)
Examples of project work:
- Non-commercial vegetation mgmt
- Road decommissioning and maintenance
- Timber harvest units
Stream reaches
• Comparison of 1:24000
to 1:4800 scale
 Fcodes at 1:24000 scale
Riparian corridors (100 ft buffers)
Major rivers
• Potential Wild and Scenic Rivers
• Elk River
– 5 mi segment
– designation for study status
– using a ¼ mile buffer