GPANR Partners

External:

Oklahoma Mesonet and Oklahoma Climatological Survey are partners in operation of a research network of weather stations, the ARS Micronet, in the Little Washita River Experimental Watershed.  We also collaborate on developing applications of climate information to agricultural management and in the establishment of a pilot groundwater monitoring network at Mesonet stations.

Oklahoma State University.  We partner with the Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department on the ARS Micronet operations and on compiling agronomic research data for crop model validation.  In addition, we cooperate with the Oklahoma Agricultural Extension Service on risk-based decision making for wheat-stocker systems.  We maintain a facility at the South Central Research Station in Chickasha to support watershed and remote sensing research. 

Langston University, Environmental Resources Center (please add ERC to the end of your LU section?) 

University of Central Oklahoma.  We collaborate on a study of the impact of impoundments on downstream water quality.  Our laboratory collects the samples and quantifies nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations in agricultural watersheds and faculty and students at the university quantify the biological indicators.   

Oklahoma Water Resources Board. We maintain an agreement with OWRB to support stream gauging in the Little Washita River Experimental Watershed.  They are also coordinating a pilot groundwater monitoring project with our laboratory, the Oklahoma Mesonet, the USGS, and the US Bureau of Reclamation, with the initial wells installed by our laboratory in sites relevant to our research. 

Oklahoma Conservation Commission.  We are establishing new watershed research in conjunction with the OCC Fort Cobb Water Quality Project.  Our research will focus on quantifying the environmental effects of conservation practices on agricultural lands. 

Natural Resources Conservation Service.  We work with NRCS at many levels from the national technical and program level, to the State Conservation Office, to local conservationists in our watersheds.  The purpose is to exchange information about the criteria for implementing conservation programs and research to assess the impacts of conservation practices. 

The US Geological Service operate a network of stream gauges in the Little Washita River Experimental Watershed and are partners in a OWRB pilot groundwater monitoring project at Oklahoma Mesonet sites. 

Oklahoma Wheat Commission.  We are collaborating with Mark Hodges on applications of climate information to risk-based decision making for wheat producers in Oklahoma and the Southern Great Plains. 

Great Plains RC&D.  We have an agreement with Larry Wright and the RC&D Council for them to support outreach and communication activities related to the Fort Cobb and Washita River watersheds.  In addition, they support us in developing new applications of applying climate information to natural resource decision-making.  We also collaborate with Larry Wright who is leading in development of a new grassroots organization, Southern Plains Agricultural Resources Coalition, to enhance environmental and economic sustainability of farming systems and rural communities. 

High Plains RC&D. We collaborate with Tom Lucas and the RC&D Council in research to develop bioenergy cropping systems for the Great Plains. 

Kansas State University is a partner through the Kansas Center for Agricultural Resources and the Environment.  We coordinated research in the Conservation Effects Assessment Project at the Special Emphasis Watershed, Cheney Lake, Kansas, and the ARS Benchmark watersheds in the Upper Washita River Hydrologic Unit, Oklahoma. 

University of Georgia, Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management (SANREM) – Cooperative Research Support Project (CRSP).  The unit collaborates on a NASA-funded project to develop carbon accounting systems applicable for small land holders in West Africa.  

University of Arizona, Udall Center.  We are collaborators on a project funded by NOAA, Human Dimensions of Climate Change Research Program, “Use of climate-information products by water managers and other stakeholders in two GCIP/GAPP Watersheds in Arizona/Sonora and Oklahoma”. 

Hydrology for the Environment, Life, and Policy (HELP) is a joint program of the United Nations Educational Scientific Organization (UNESCO) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).  The laboratory provides the contact point for the Red-Arkansas Basin, focusing in particular on the Washita River basin in this international network established to support creation of a framework for water law and policy experts, water resource managers and water scientists to work together on water-related problems.    

National Weather Service, Climate Prediction Center.  We utilize seasonal climate forecasts produced by the CPC in our research and development of risk-based decision support tools for agricultural and natural resource management.  We also provide feedback to CPC from the user perspective on ways to improve their forecast products. 

Durant Digital Devices and Terra Verde, Inc. are CRADA partners for development of an inexpensive, hand-held devise for determining forage quality using remote sensing approaches. 

Individual farmers and landowners.  We have agreements with 45 individual landowners in the Little Washita River Experimental Watershed where instrumentation is located for climate and stream flow monitoring.  In addition, agreements are made with farmers and landowners for on-farm data collection for remote sensing, water quality, and decision-making research. 

Within ARS:

USDA-ARS Conservation Effects Assessment Project.  The location conducts research in an ARS Benchmark Watershed, leads the data management team, participates in multisite model validation and simulation research, and participates on the project Coordinating Committee.  

USDA-ARS Watershed Research Network. The Little Washita River Experimental Watershed supported by this laboratory is one of fourteen long-term watersheds (http://www.nwrc.ars.usda.gov/watershed/) that exchange information about methodologies and collaborate in model validation and simulation studies.

USDA-ARS Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory, Beltsville, MD.  Long-standing collaboration has existed with scientists at this laboratory, particularly in the area of large-scale, remote sensing campaign conducted in the Little Washita River Experimental Watershed. 

USDA-ARS Southwest Watershed Research Laboratory, Tucson, AZ.  Long-standing collaboration has existed with scientists at this laboratory, particularly in the area of large-scale, remote sensing campaigns, the HELP network, and most recently joint resear4ch to validate a new soil moisture modeling system under development of the U.S. Corps of Engineers. 

USDA-ARS Grasslands Soil and Water Research Laboratory, Temple, TX, Collaboration focus on validation and application of the Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) for water quality assessments and improvements of the CERES-Wheat model to better simulate impacts of fall grazing by stocker beef cattle on wheat growth. 

USDA-ARS, Great Plains Systems Research Unit, Fort Collins, CO.  Our laboratory will serve as one of four locations for initial testing of the spatial version of the Root Zone Water Quality Model.  Our application will focus on data assimilation of remotely-sensed surface soil water content to improve simulation of root zone processes.  Additional collaboration focuses on coordinating between the Object Modeling System development and the ARS Watershed Data System development to ensure future compatibility. 

USDA-ARS, J. Phil Campbell, Sr., Natural Resources Research Center, Watkinsville, GA.  Collaboration focuses on simulation of tillage and nutrient management effects on hydrologic processes and water quality. 

USDA-ARS, Cropping Systems Research Laboratory, Lubbock, TX.  Collaboration focuses on long-term climate variability and climate forecasting research for the Southern Great Plains.