Oregon District Completed Projects

PN379 Pacific Northwest River Reach Clearinghouse

Study area

PROJECT CHIEF: Bruce J. Fisher

COOPERATING AGENCY: Pacific States Marine Fisheries

PROJECT TITLE: Development,Maintenance, Enhancement, and Dissemination of the 100K-Scale River Reach Data System.

LOCATION: Pacific Northwest: Columbia River Basin in U.S; Coasts of Washington and Oregon, Puget Sound, Bear River Basin in Idaho.

PROBLEM

The Oregon District has developed a digital hydrography database, at a resolution of 100K-scale, for the Pacific Northwest. The work was completed during the period 1989-94 for the Bonneville Power Administration with the cooperation and assistance of many state and Federal agencies. Named the Pacific Northwest River Reach File System, the hydrographic data has been organized by USGS Catalog Units and designed to be used in tabular form or using  Geographic Information System software  The hydrographic data have been linked to a natural-resource database from the Northwest Power Planning Council (NPPC) and to the STORET database from the USEPA. A central clearinghouse has been established by the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission (PSMFC) located in Gladstone, Oregon,  to provide current and accurate reach files for all users of this new system.

OBJECTIVES

The major objective of this project has been to develop a cornerstone 100K-scale River Reach Data System which can be used by natural resource agencies for several years to come.

APPROACH

The implementation of this region-wide 100K-scale River Reach Data System is being accomplished through an active program of updating and enhancing of the Reach Files by the States and documentation and dissemination of the reach files by the USGS. The River Reach Clearinghouse will administer the development of protocols for State agencies to follow when making corrections or adding enhancements to the 100K River Reach Files.
Tasks for the States included:

1. checking and correcting attribute coding
2. adding stream names from available sources
3. verifying initial work done by the USGS
4. resetting stream flow direction.

Tasks for the USGS included:

1. providing technical support to the States
2. processing each corrected Reach File thru a set of final updating programs
3. inserting documentation, including a data dictionary and a descriptive narrative, for each reach file and
4. disseminating updated reach files back to the States.

PROGRESS

The USGS participation updating, final processing, and documentation of the PNW Reach Files is complete. In 1997 the USGS turned the PNW Reach Files over to the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission (PSMFC) located in Gladstone, Or. PSMFC added additional reach attributes to the Reach Files including; unique stream identifiers and stream routes using ARC/INFO dynamic segmentation software. As of a result of these enhancements the Files were upgraded to version 2.3 PSMFC will be the interim proprietor of Version 2.3 until they are integrated into the National Hydrographic Database. This process should occur sometime in late 1998. The 2.3 PNW Reach Files along with updated documentation are accessible from this PSMFC website.

For another overview of the PNW River Reach Project this Fact Sheet is also available.

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<Send questions or comments to bjfisher@usgs.gov>