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  • Great Salt Lake Basins

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USGS IN YOUR STATE

USGS Water Science Centers are located in each state.

National Watershed Boundary Delineation

Project Number: 9716AVD
Project Chief: Karen Hanson, USGS Salt Lake City, Utah
Cooperator:
Period of Project: May 2003 to

PROBLEM

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management, Department of Interior is the caretaker for millions of acres of land in Utah. Each year the BLM faces numerous issues concerning the use of these lands; including mining, grazing, endangered species, and recreation. Resolving these issues is complex because of the diverse needs of users and of the biota that inhabit these lands. Resolution often requires studies to determine possible impacts, and these studies are primarily on a geographic scale as small as a few acres and involve the abundance or lack of water as a key issue. Watersheds or catchments must be accurately and consistently defined by all those who are seeking resolution of conflicting land uses.

OBJECTIVES

The objective is to delineate and define watersheds that form BLM lands to the 6th level with a consistent, reproducible method that meets National standards and that is accepted by all agencies, public land users, and user representatives.

• Defines the aerial extent of water drainage to a point
• Establishes a base-line drainage boundary framework accounting for all land and surface areas
• Impartial to any administrative units, special projects, particular program or agency
• At a minimum, the hydrologic units must be delineated and georeferenced to USGS 1:24,000-, 1:25,000, or 1:63,360-scale topographic maps, which meet National Standards for Spatial Data Accuracy
• Digitial Orthophoto Quarter Quadrangles (DOQQs) or higher resolution imagery, contours of elevation, stream locations and other relevant data are useful in improving the accuracy of the hydrologic unit boundaries

APPROACH

Basin delineations will be prioritized on the basis of the needs of the BLM. Basins designated as high priority will be processed first and delineations will be transmitted electronically to the BLM as they are completed. The approach involves 6 stages. The Utah Water Scince Center has national funding to assist anywhere in the lower 48 states to ensure consistency and compliance to the Federal Standards for this work are met. Our team has worked in just about every state at some point over the past 7 years.

CURRENT STATUS

National Status Map of WBD Certification

PRODUCTS

Certified Datasets

To download:

• http://datagateway.nrcs.usda.gov/
• Select "Get Data"
• Select "Quick State" and then scroll to Utah (or desired state)
• Make selection under "hydrologic_units"