Degradation of streams and associated riparian habitat across the Missouri River Headwaters Basin has motivated several stream restoration projects across the watershed. Many of these projects install a series of beaver dam analogues (BDAs) to aggrade incised streams, elevate local water tables, and create natural surface water storage by reconnecting streams with their floodplains. Satellite imagery can provide a spatially continuous mechanism to monitor the effects of these in-stream structures on stream surface area. However, remote sensing-based approaches to map narrow (e.g., <5 m wide) linear features such as streams have been under-developed relative to efforts to map other types of aquatic systems, such as wetlands or lakes. We mapped pre- and post-restoration (one to three years post-restoration) stream surface area and riparian greenness at four stream restoration sites using Worldview-2 and 3 images as well as a QuickBird-2 image. We found that panchromatic brightness and eCognition-based outputs (0.5 m resolution) provided high-accuracy maps of stream surface area (overall accuracy ranged from 91% to 99%) for streams as narrow as 1.5 m wide. Using image pairs, we were able to document increases in stream surface area immediately upstream of BDAs as well as increases in stream surface area along the restoration reach at Robb Creek, Alkali Creek and Long Creek (South). Although Long Creek (North) did not show a net increase in stream surface area along the restoration reach, we did observe an increase in riparian greenness, suggesting increased water retention adjacent to the stream. As high-resolution imagery becomes more widely collected and available, improvements in our ability to provide spatially continuous monitoring of stream systems can effectively complement more traditional field-based and gage-based datasets to inform watershed management.

Hydrographic and Impairment Statistics (HIS) is a National Park Service (NPS) Water Resources Division (WRD) project established to track certain goals created in response to the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA). One water resources management goal established by the Department of the Interior under GRPA requires NPS to track the percent of its managed surface waters that are meeting Clean Water Act (CWA) water quality standards. This goal requires an accurate inventory that spatially quantifies the surface water hydrography that each bureau manages and a procedure to determine and track which waterbodies are or are not meeting water quality standards as outlined by Section 303(d) of the CWA. This project helps meet this DOI GRPA goal by inventorying and monitoring in a geographic information system for the NPS: (1) CWA 303(d) quality impaired waters and causes; and (2) hydrographic statistics based on the United States Geological Survey (USGS) National Hydrography Dataset (NHD). Hydrographic and 303(d) impairment statistics were evaluated based on a combination of 1:24,000 (NHD) and finer scale data (frequently provided by state GIS layers).

Hydrographic and Impairment Statistics (HIS) is a National Park Service (NPS) Water Resources Division (WRD) project established to track certain goals created in response to the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA). One water resources management goal established by the Department of the Interior under GRPA requires NPS to track the percent of its managed surface waters that are meeting Clean Water Act (CWA) water quality standards. This goal requires an accurate inventory that spatially quantifies the surface water hydrography that each bureau manages and a procedure to determine and track which waterbodies are or are not meeting water quality standards as outlined by Section 303(d) of the CWA. This project helps meet this DOI GRPA goal by inventorying and monitoring in a geographic information system for the NPS: (1) CWA 303(d) quality impaired waters and causes; and (2) hydrographic statistics based on the United States Geological Survey (USGS) National Hydrography Dataset (NHD). Hydrographic and 303(d) impairment statistics were evaluated based on a combination of 1:24,000 (NHD) and finer scale data (frequently provided by state GIS layers).

Hydrographic and Impairment Statistics (HIS) is a National Park Service (NPS) Water Resources Division (WRD) project established to track certain goals created in response to the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA). One water resources management goal established by the Department of the Interior under GRPA requires NPS to track the percent of its managed surface waters that are meeting Clean Water Act (CWA) water quality standards. This goal requires an accurate inventory that spatially quantifies the surface water hydrography that each bureau manages and a procedure to determine and track which waterbodies are or are not meeting water quality standards as outlined by Section 303(d) of the CWA. This project helps meet this DOI GRPA goal by inventorying and monitoring in a geographic information system for the NPS: (1) CWA 303(d) quality impaired waters and causes; and (2) hydrographic statistics based on the United States Geological Survey (USGS) National Hydrography Dataset (NHD). Hydrographic and 303(d) impairment statistics were evaluated based on a combination of 1:24,000 (NHD) and finer scale data (frequently provided by state GIS layers).

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) created the Degree Flowlines and Culverts geospatial datasets representing potential culvert locations along with flowlines within the Connecting River Systems Restoration Assessment (CRSRA) study area. Both datasets will be served in the Great Lakes Wetlands Restoration Area mapping application [https://glcwra.wim.usgs.gov/]. The map-based user interface can be used by stakeholders to find potential areas for successful wetlands restoration. Each flowline was assigned a connectivity score describing its level of connectedness to the lake outlet. Low numbers represent fewer disconnections, such as culverts or road crossings, between the reach and the water body requiring no flow network modification to restore the area. For more information, see the full data release documentation and the GLCWRA webpage: https://glcwra.wim.usgs.gov/.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) created the Degree Flowlines and Culverts geospatial datasets representing potential culvert locations along with flowlines within the Connecting River Systems Restoration Assessment (CRSRA) study area. Both datasets will be served in the Great Lakes Wetlands Restoration Area mapping application [https://glcwra.wim.usgs.gov/]. The map-based user interface can be used by stakeholders to find potential areas for successful wetlands restoration. Each flowline was assigned a connectivity score describing its level of connectedness to the lake outlet. Low numbers represent fewer disconnections, such as culverts or road crossings, between the reach and the water body requiring no flow network modification to restore the area. For more information, see the full data release documentation and the GLCWRA webpage: https://glcwra.wim.usgs.gov/.

This geospatial dataset includes a one-point feature-class shapefile, one-polygon feature-class shapefile, and associated FGDC-compliant metadata to define 193 streamflow and 299 basin characteristics at 1,320 U.S. Geological Survey streamflow gaging stations. Sites included in the dataset either (1) drain to the Gulf of Mexico or (2) are adjacent to watersheds that flow to the Gulf of Mexico and are considered both physiographically similar and valuable for analysis. Drainage area to the sites varies from less than 1 to approximately 67,500 square miles. Data presented describe the streamflow regime (Rossman, 1990; Thompson and Archfield, 2014), climate (Daly and others, 2008), land use and land-use change (Sohl and others, 2014; Sohl and others, 2016), and anthropogenic features. Basins were identified following Hirsch and DiCicco (2015), and daily value streamflow data were retrieved from the USGS National Water Information System (U.S. Geological Survey, 2017). Daily value streamflow data were available beginning in 1892 through the 2016 water year (a 12-month period beginning October 1, for any given year through September 30 of the following year). All characteristics based on time series (streamflow, climate, land use for example) were summarized in terms of period of record and 10 water year increments (for example, 1930 – 1939). Data presented provide a numerical foundation supporting the: (1) development of statistical models of streamflow characteristics; (2) evaluation of spatial and temporal trends in streamflow characteristics; and (3) development of network optimization analysis. Basin characteristics will be used as independent variables to estimate streamflow characteristics (measures of the magnitude, duration, frequency, timing, and rate of change of the annual hydrograph) in a manner similar to Knight and others (2012). Daly, C., Halbleib, M., Smith, J.I., Gibson, W.P., Doggett, M.K., Taylor, G.H., Curtis, J., and Pasteris, P.P., 2008, Physiographically sensitive mapping of climatological temperature and precipitation across the conterminous United States: International Journal of Climatology, v. 28, no. 15, p. 2031–2064. Dunne, T., and Black, R., 1970. “An experimental investigation of runoff production in permeable soils.” Water Resour. Res., 6(2), 478–490 ESRI 2011. ArcGIS Desktop: Release 10.4.1 Redlands, CA: Environmental Systems Research Institute. Falcone, J.A., Carlisle, D.M., Wolock, D.M., and Meador, M.R., 2010b. GAGES: A stream gage database for evaluating natural and altered flow conditions in the conterminous United States, Ecology, 91 (2), p 621; Data Paper in Ecological Archives E091-045-D1; available online at: http://esapubs.org/Archive/ecol/E091/045/metadata.htm. Hamon, W.R., 1961. Estimating Potential Evaporation. Journal of the Hydraulics Division, Proceedings of American Society of Civil Engineers 87:107-120. Horton, Robert E. (1933) "The role of infiltration in the hydrologic cycle" Transactions of the American Geophysics Union, 14th Annual Meeting, pp. 446–460. Hirsch, R.M., and DiCicco, L.A., 2015, User guide to Exploration and Graphics for RivEr Trends (EGRET) and dataRetrieval: R packages for hydrologic data (version 2.0, February 2015):, accessed at https://pubs.usgs.gov/tm/04/a10/. Juracek, K.E., 1999, Estimation of potential runoff contributing areas in the Kansas-Lower Republican River Basin, Kansas: U.S. Geological Survey Water Resources Investigations Report 99-4089, 24 p Kjelstrom, L.C., 1998, Methods for estimating selected flow-duration and flood-frequency characteristics at ungaged sites in central Idaho: U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 94-4120, 10 p Knight, R.R., Gain, W.S., and Wolfe, W.J., 2012, Modelling ecological flow regime: an example from the Tennessee and Cumberland River basins: Ecohydrology, v. 5, no. 5, p. 613–627. NAWQA- U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey. National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program.

This dataset represents the location of dikes within the Connecting River Systems Restoration Assessment (CRSRA) study area. For more information, see the full data release documentation and the GLCWRA webpage: https://glcwra.wim.usgs.gov/.

This dataset represents the location of dikes within the Connecting River Systems Restoration Assessment (CRSRA) study area. For more information, see the full data release documentation and the GLCWRA webpage: https://glcwra.wim.usgs.gov/.

This dataset contains vegetation data collected at a variety of watershed restoration sites across southeastern Arizona over 5 years. The semiarid habitats in the Madrean Archipelago Ecoregion, which extends from southern Arizona into northern Mexico, are facing many challenges from climate change to land use change which threaten the ecological and cultural values of the region. Watershed restoration practitioners use a variety of techniques such as gabions, check dams, and cross vanes to reduce the effects of these threats and improve or maintain watershed function. Since vegetation dynamics in the area are driven by water availability, these restoration techniques appear to have secondary effects on the vegetation of a watershed. To evaluate and quantify these effects, vegetation data was collected at 5 restoration sites across southeastern Arizona. Three of these sites, Barboot (BB), Silver Creek (SC), and Vaughn Canyon (VC), were restored just before sampling occurred allowing for an "After-Control-Impact" design to assess the change in vegetation. Data was collected at SC and VC for 5 years while only 4 years of data was collected at BB due to a lack of continued change. At these sites treatment plots were established at structures within stream channels while control plots were established at locations in reaches without structures within the same drainages. At Deep Dirt (DD), the project drainage was fairly short and there was no area within it or in a similar drainage that did not have restoration structures. This prevented the installation of control plots, instead data was collected at two different types of structures for 5 years. At Cienega Ranch (CR), restoration structures had not been installed when data was collected. Plots were distributed in the project reaches and in a nearby control reach. One year of baseline data has been collected at CR which will allow for a “Before-After-Control-Impact” study design. At all project sites, each plot was stratified in zones based on hydrological position relative to the restoration structure and proximity to the structure. Nested quadrats were used to quantify abundance as well as basal and foliar cover. Subplots were used to quantify species composition. Data was collected for perennial species and non-native species during the summer monsoon season from August – September, sometimes extending into early October. This vegetation data is provided in 5 CSV files which form a relational database which is explained in further detail in "RelationalDatabase_VegetationResponseWatershedRestoration.xml". "Relationships.pdf" is an illustration of the relationships in the database. "StudySampleDesign.pdf" contains figures illustrating plot design and nested quadrat design to clarify the data collection process. "mtbl_Plants.csv" is the master plant list that includes taxonomic and other information for Arizona species; the development of this dataset is explained in further detail in "mtbl_Plants.xml". Every plot and nested quadrat was photodocumented; photos can be found in the "Photos_VegetationResponseWatershedRestoration" directory and process explained in the associated metadata file "Photos_VegetationResponseWatershedRestoration.xml". This data release can be downloaded with or without the photos. "VegetationResponseWatershedRestoration.zip" includes the photos; "VegetationResponseWatershedRestoration_noPhotos.zip" does not include the photos for faster download times.