FYI ... Please forward to folks you think would like to participate ..... Dan

High-quality hydrographic data are critical to a broad range of government and private applications. Resource management, infrastructure planning, environmental monitoring, fisheries management, and disaster mitigation all depend on up-to-date, accurate, and high-quality hydrographic data. The U.S. Geological Survey National Geospatial Program is initiating a new series of virtual seminars to highlight the uses of hydrographic data. These seminars are intended to share success stories from users who have solved real world problems using hydrographic data, provide information about the National Hydrography Dataset and related products, and provide a virtual forum for users, similar to what might be encountered in a conference setting. These seminars will be presented every six to eight weeks and feature applications and speakers from different disciplines.

Connections are limited, and you will need to register to attend these seminars. Please visit MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "links.govdelivery.com" claiming to be https://usgs.webex.com/usgs/k2/j.php?MTID=td76813289c0e4179e77dffc9a0056bfb to sign up. After your request has been approved, you’ll receive instructions for joining the meeting.

Seminar 5 - Thursday, November 5, 2015 - 2:00 PM Eastern - One Hour

USDA Forest Service Watershed Condition Framework: An approach for assessing and improving watershed condition Mike Eberle - USFS Surface Water Program Leader, Watershed, Fish, Wildlife, Air & Rare Plants

Abstract - The USDA Forest Service (Forest Service) has developed a nationally consistent, comparable, and credible process for maintaining or improving the health of watersheds across all national forests and grassland called the Watershed Condition Framework (WCF). The WCF is a comprehensive approach for proactively implementing integrated restoration on priority watersheds on national forests and grasslands. The WCF structures the way the Forest Service approaches watershed restoration by targeting implementation of integrated suites of maintenance or improvement activities in those watersheds that have been identified as priorities for restoration. The WCF also establishes a nationally consistent reconnaissance-level approach for assessing and classifying watershed condition, using a set of 12 indicators that are surrogate variables representing the underlying ecological, hydrological, and geomorphic functions and processes that affect watershed condition. In late 2010, the Forest Service assessed the condition of over 15,000 6th level (12-digit) HUCs containing National Forest System lands. Since then, over 250 Priority Watersheds have been designated and over 200 associated Watershed Restoration Action Plans (WRAPs) have been developed. Partner engagement has been an integral component of the WCF implementation. During the session, participants will be led through the WCF map viewer website (MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "links.govdelivery.com" claiming to be http://apps.fs.usda.gov/WCFmapviewer/), where the public and partners can view the results of WCF planning, including priority watersheds, WRAPs, the watershed selection process, estimated costs, and involved partners. Session participants will learn about plans for future work in the WCF process, focusing on the availability of watershed condition data and tools for the upcoming watershed condition reassessment.

Biography – Mike Eberle is the Forest Service’s Surface Water Program Leader. Since coming to the FS in January 2011, his work has primarily focused the agency’s implementation of the Watershed Condition Framework through the development of policy, technical resources, and national guidance. In addition, Mike has assisted with the effort to implement the agency’s National Best Management Practices Program. Mike has worked for the USDOI’s Bureau of Land Management as its Water Program Lead and as the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s Pacific Region’s Chief of Water Resources, in Portland, OR.

Lightning Talk 1 - Preserving High-Quality Riparian Vegetation - David Richey

Abstract - To protect and preserve water quality in the McKenzie Watershed, the Eugene Water & Electric Board (EWEB) has developed a Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) Voluntary Incentives Program (VIP). The program is designed to preserve high-quality riparian vegetation in the McKenzie Watershed by remunerating landowners for keeping such vegetation stands intact. One important consideration in the construction of such a program is the Program Area. The Program Area defines those lands that can be considered for inclusion and enrollment in the VIP. In order to create a program area that is accepted by program participants and funders, the delineation method should be:

1. Science-based
2. Easily explained to a lay audience
3. Repeatable in other watersheds
4. Useful for program analysis and evaluation.

In developing a program area for the VIP, we have examined two different geo-spatial models for delineating the riparian area based on geomorphic characteristics. After examining two models, we decided to use the Active River Area Model developed by The Nature Conservancy (Smith et al., 2008). This presentation briefly covers model implementation and considerations in defining the program eligibility boundary.

Biography – David Richey (BA, Biology, Oberlin College; BLA, MLA, University of Oregon) and is a Senior GIS Analyst at the Lane Council of Governments in Eugene, Oregon. He has practiced spatial data analysis for 20 years with a research and professional focus on agricultural and riparian landscapes. His current work focuses on the McKenzie Voluntary Incentives Program, a payment for ecosystem services project protecting and restoring riparian vegetation, for the Eugene Water and Electric Board.

Lightning Talk 2 - Streamgage Drainage Area Boundaries - Curtis Price

Abstract - The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has begun an effort to serve watershed boundaries for its continuous-record gages in alignment with the seamless, locally-reviewed Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD) polygons. Because gage locations are not located exactly on WBD boundaries, a method was developed that, given a user-supplied watershed polygon and pour point, a) clips and conforms the input polygon to a WBD polygon boundary, b) merges any “upstream” WBD polygons, and c) recalculates area.

Biography – Curtis Price is a Physical Scientist and GIS Specialist with the U.S. Geological Survey. He has been supporting GIS applications as a member of USGS' Enterprise GIS team for more than twenty years. His research interests include raster data analysis and landscape characterization.