Project Number: 5325-11220-005-06
Project Type: Specific Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Sep 30, 2007
End Date: Aug 30, 2012

Objective:
Principal focus of the Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) effort is to produce national and regional assessments of environmental benefits of conservation programs to support policy decision and program implementation on crop and grazing lands by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).

Approach:
Develop a relational database (Hydrologic Unit Model of the United States: HUMUS) from ARS historical watershed data and data from other public sources (i.e., USGS, NRCS, EPA, BLM, USFS, NASA, and NOAA). This relational database will then be use to evaluate and improve the ARS Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model. The validated SWAT model will then be applied to estimate the impact of conservation practices on water quality, soil quality, sustainability of rangeland ecosystems, and wildlife habitat in regional and national assessments in partnership with the NRCS. Documents SCA with U of Nevada-Reno.