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Track: Natural Resources and Conservation
Maggie Smith
Natural Resources Conservation Service
2550 North Diers Suite L
Grand Island, NE 68803
Telephone: 308-382-0814
Fax: 308-382-3688
Steve Moran
Trumbull Basin Surface Water and Wetland Management Plan
Defining Issue: Developing resource inventories to help landowners and agency specialists develop a watershed plan which addresses wetland management as part of an integrated surface water management plan. GIS Solution: The Trumbull Basin watershed planning effort was initiated by Rainwater Basin Joint Venture to discuss the restoration of migratory waterfowl habitat on previously drained cropland. The farmers and landowners agreed to participate in the plan development if the objectives were expanded to include the issues of flood control, supplemental irrigation water, erosion control, farm economics, and social issues dealing with communication between neighbors. Methodology: An inventory of the watershed resources was the first request of the planning group. Geographic information system (GIS) technology was used as the best way to show the spatial relationship and interrelationship of the inventoried resources. Those items inventoried include elevation surveys, land use, soils, potential shallow
water habitat, surface water storage facilities, hydrologic drainage patterns, and aerial photography. Maps prepared with GIS technology were the preliminary planning tools. In addition to information, the maps served as catalysts to individual landowners discussing issues as a watershed community rather than individually. Planning participants recognized the interrelationship of the issues discussed and volunteered historical information important to the inventory. The SA module depicted shallow water wetland sites as areas below specified elevations at particular locations. The completeness of the inventory and GIS technology which addressed combined issues rather than individual situations allowed alternative development by landowners. The inventory helped biologists, engineering specialists, planners, and landowners discuss proposals that were based on factual rather than assumed information. The landowner decisions and Best Management Practice locations will be documented using GIS. Follow-up and
plan implementation progress will be shared using maps and tables produced with GIS. Software: TerraModel software was used to develop stage storage capacities of shallow water wetland habitat sites and surface water storage sites. ArcView Version 3.0 and Spatial Analysis were used as mapping software and to designate shallow water boundaries on a DOQQ base. Microsoft PowerPoint used images created in ArcView for presentations.
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