EPA/600/R-12/001 | December 2011 | www.epa.gov/research
&EPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
South Platte River Basin
Data Browser
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
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South Platte River Basin
Data Browser
Rachel K. Guy
Kenneth G. Boykin
Center for Applied Spatial Ecology
New Mexico Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit
Department of Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Ecology
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, New Mexico
William G. Kepner
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
National Exposure Research Laboratory
Environmental Sciences Division
Landscape Ecology Branch
Las Vegas, Nevada
Julia M. McCarthy
Region 8, Wetlands Program
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Denver, Colorado
NM
STATE
Center for Applied
Spatial Ecology
Although this work was reviewed by EPA and approved for publication, it may not necessarily reflect official
Agency policy. Mention of trade names and commercial products does not constitute endorsement or
recommendation for use.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Research and Development
Washington, DC 20460
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Suggested Citation:
Guy, R.K., Boykin, K.G., Kepner, W.G., and McCarthy, J.M. 2011. South Platte River Basin
Data Browser. EPA/600/R-12/001. 9 Pp.
Database Website:
Guy, R.K., Boykin, K.G., Kepner, W.G., and McCarthy, J.M. 2011. South Platte River Basin
Data Browser. EPA/600/C-12/001. http://fws-case-12.nmsu.edu/SouthPlatte/
in
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SUMMARY
The purpose of this data browser is to provide a spatial toolkit that delivers primary data that can
be used for primary input information for assessments related to environmental endpoints, e.g.
surface water hydrology and habitat mapping, related to ecosystem services.
A necessary component in these landscape scale analyses is a contemporary land cover dataset
and the ancillary spatial coverages which provide a baseline for subsequent habitat and
hydrologic modeling, and conservation assessments. Thus, the content of this site can be used as
the basis for landscape-scale assessments of ecological characteristics of aquatic ecosystems and
impacts from land use and water quality management.
The extent of the datasets include all sub-watersheds of the South Platte River Basin (HUC
101900) that fall within the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 8 states of Colorado
and Wyoming and a portion of western Nebraska in Region 7.
The South Platte watershed contains many rapidly growing cities, each with increasing pressures
on the natural environment and stressors on aquatic ecosystems due to land use change and water
development. With projected population growth in excess of 50% by 2050, the need for data and
best available science for environmental decision-making is critical to maintaining the integrity
of the waters within the South Platte River Basin.
Disclaimer
Users are advised that the majority of coverages within the database have been provided by a
number of other agencies. Verification of the quality and use of any data supplied via this
product are the responsibility of the user. This report has been subjected to the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency peer and administrative review process and approved for
publication.
IV
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
SUMMARY iv
LIST OF TABLES vi
LIST OF FIGURES vi
INTRODUCTION 1
APPROACH 2
Spatial and tabular data collection from freely available internet sources 2
Data processing and co-registration (including metadata) 5
Provide land cover datasets 5
Organize datasets and supplementary data and operationalize into an online data browser 5
CONCLUSIONS 6
LITERATURE CITED 7
APPENDICES 8
Appendix A. Data inventory 8
Appendix B. South Platte Watershed Datasets and Sources 9
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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1. Spatial Datasets for the South Platte Watershed 3
Table 2. Integrated Climate and Land-Use Scenarios Categories 4
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1. South Platte River Basin study area.
VI
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to acknowledge those individuals that collaborated with us in order to collect
these datasets. Specifically, we would like to thank Tyler Rogers and Elizabeth Samson whom
without their assistance this data browser would not have been possible. We would like to also
acknowledge the key reviewers for this report and the spatial database. Our thanks in particular
go to Karl A. Hermann, Regional Coordinator, Monitoring and Assessment Team, Water Quality
Unit, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 8 (Denver, CO) and Donald W. Ebert, U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, Landscape Ecology
Branch (Las Vegas, NV).
vn
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INTRODUCTION
Evaluating connectivity and ecosystem services and projecting land development within river
basins is a critical component to contemporary natural resource management. Understanding
base environmental conditions allows managers to evaluate forecasts concerning outcomes of
alternative future land-use scenarios. Spatial datasets and land-use change scenarios at the river
basin scale are a necessary tool for conducting such analyses. We collected datasets that were
freely available, and organized them into an online data browser for access in order to conduct
habitat, hydrological modeling, and conservation assessments.
The study area for this project was the South Platte River Basin (Figure 1, 62,580 km2), that
includes northeast Colorado and parts of Nebraska and Wyoming, and is delineated by the 6-
digit Hydrologic Unit Code, 101900. The South Platte watershed contains many rapidly growing
cities, each with increasing pressures on the natural environment and stressors on aquatic
ecosystems due to land use change and water development. With projected population growth in
excess of 50% by 2050, the need for data and best available science for environmental decision-
making is critical to maintaining the integrity of the waters within the South Platte River Basin.
WYOMING
Kilometers
25 50 100 150
Figure 1. South Platte River Basin study area
To facilitate the analyses of the South Platte River Basin, the necessary datasets included land
cover, geology, hydrology, wildlife habitat, ancillary (e.g. census tracts, satellite imagery, cities,
counties, and land ownership datasets), and land-use change scenario datasets. Thus, the
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4) organize datasets and supplementary data into an online data browser. The output of this
project provides data elements (Appendix A) that include an online database that will make
possible analyses of physical, biological and chemical functions of the watershed.
APPROACH
Spatial and tabular data collection from freely available internet sources
From September 2010 through January 2011, 32 datasets relevant to the South Platte watershed
were collected from a variety of free web resources (Appendix B). Categorically, these included
hydrological, geological, elevation, and land cover (Table 1). Additionally 447 terrestrial
vertebrate habitat models (311 birds, 105 mammals, 22 reptiles, and 9 amphibians) derived from
the Southwest Regional Gap Analysis Project (SWReGAP) were included in the database
(Boykin et al. 2007). Within the datasets, there were also 32 Digital Ortho Quarter Quads
(DOQQs), 24 digital raster graphics (DRGs), and 2 digital land cover datasets. When possible,
all raster datasets were converted to ERDAS Imagine formatting, while vector datasets remained
in their native format.
Finally, we downloaded the EPA Integrated Climate and Land Use Scenario (ICLUS v 1.3)
datasets (EPA 2010). The ICLUS datasets are in ESRI Grid format of housing densities
projected out from the year 2000 to the year 2100 in ten year increments based on five climate
change scenarios (Table 2): Al, Bl, A2, B2 and BC. The five scenarios represent different
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) emission storylines related to population
growth and economic strategy (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 2009). This resulted in a
total of 55 spatial datasets.
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Table 1. Spatial Datasets for the South Platte Watershed
Category
Dataset
# of Datasets
Land Cover
Hydrology
Elevation/Geology
Ancillary
Habitat Models
ICLUS
Ecological System (Gap Level 3) [2011]*
Formation Class(Gap Level 1)[2011]*
National Land Cover Dataset [2006]+
National Weather Service Meteorological Gages
PRISM Annual Precipitation [1971-2000]
USGS Stream Gages
Flow Accumulation
Flow Direction
8-Digit Hydrologic Unit Code
12-digit Hydrologic Unit Code
National Hydrography Dataset+ Features
Elevation
Aspect
Slope
Shaded Relief (Hillshade)
FAO Soils
STATSGO Soils
SSURGO Soils
Geology/Lithology
GAP Management
GAP Ownership
Roads
Digital Raster Graphics (DRGs)
Digital Ortho Quarter Quads (DOQQs)
Quadrangle Frames 12k-250k
Populated Places
Non-populated Places
Places
Census Tracts
Urban Areas
Counties
BLM Allotments
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
5
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
24
32
4
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
447
55
Total Datasets:
*Created using 1999-2001 Landsat imagery
+Created using 2006 Landsat imagery
595
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Table 2. Integrated Climate and Land-Use Scenarios Categories Related to the IPCC Emissions
Storylines (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 2009, Nakicenovic N., and Swart R., eds.
2000).
Scenario Description
BC Baseline Condition. Medium fertility, medium
domestic migration, and medium international
migration
Al Low fertility, high domestic and international
migration. Fast economic growth, low
population growth, and high global integration
Bl Low fertility and domestic migration, high
international migration. Globally integrated
world with emphasis on environmentally
sustainable economic development.
A2 High fertility and domestic migration, medium
international migration. Continued economic
development with regional focus and slower
economic convergence between regions.
B2 Medium fertility and international migration,
low domestic migration. Regionally oriented
world of moderate population growth, local
solutions to environmental and economic
issues.
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Data processing and co-registration (including metadata)
Once datasets were downloaded, they were manipulated in ArcGIS 9.3 and ArcGIS 10 in order
to clip the data only to the area of the South Platte River Basin. Raster datasets were rescaled to
a 30 m resolution. If data were downloaded in subsets of the river basin, then each subset was
mosaicked together in order to create a seamless dataset prior to masking the data only to the
river basin. Some datasets were not available in a spatial form and had to be derived from the
data that were available. These datasets included the National Weather Service meteorological
gages, aspect, slope, and shaded relief. We created the National Weather Service
meteorological gage dataset from tabular data available from the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration and used specified GPS coordinates to export the dataset into a
point shape file.
Some datasets were too large to mosaic into seamless datasets. Both DRGs and DOQQs were
downloaded in their native format as MrSID rasters, a format meant to handle very large data.
Converting these datasets to ERDAS Imagine (.img) or .tiff formats would have resulted in a loss
of detail. Therefore, both DRGs and DOQQs were downloaded by county in order to be easily
referenced and retain detail.
Once all datasets were collected they were projected to NAD 83 Albers UTM Zone 13 to create
uniform data in a common projection. After they were projected, metadata were created for each
dataset using a combination of the original metadata. We generated the metadata using the EPA
Metadata Editor 3.1 and validated it for completeness. All files were then zipped using WinZip
9.0.
Provide land cover datasets
In 2011, the seamless National Land Cover Gap Analysis Project (GAP) dataset at the Ecological
System level was made available on the U.S. Geological Survey National GAP website
(http://gapanalysis.usgs.gov: USGS GAP 2011). A revised beta version was provided to the
project; however, it is not yet publicly available. This dataset was aggregated into the Ecological
System level (GAP Level 3), and also at the Formation Class thematic level (Gap Level 1). For
reference, the U.S. Geological Survey National Land Cover Database (USGS NLCD 2006; Fry
et al. 2011) data were also downloaded and masked to the South Platte Watershed. At GAP
Level 3, the resulting dataset for the South Platte Watershed included 73 land cover classes,
while at Level 1 (Formation Class) the resulting dataset included only 8 land cover classes. The
USGS NLCD 2006 dataset included 16 land cover classes.
Organize datasets and supplementary data and operationalize into an online data browser
All datasets collected were uploaded to a project website. These were organized by pages in
order to provide an intuitive and user-friendly navigation environment. Main categories covered
in separate webpages (and subsets thereof) include the home page with an introduction to the
project, the downloadable datasets, contact information, related links and references to the
project such as to SWReGAP, and a copy of this document.
Datasets were organized first by their category: Land Cover, Hydrology, Elevation/Geology,
Ancillary, Habitat Models, and ICLUS. The first four categories fit on the main data page.
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These were organized in a table under the category. Columns of the table include the name of
the dataset, the file format, a link to an image of the dataset in JPEG format, a link to metadata
for the dataset in XML format, and a link to the online source of the dataset. ICLUS, however,
links to a zip file of the entire dataset.
The Habitat Model link will bring you to the Habitat Model main page with links to Metadata,
Reptiles and Amphibians, Birds, and Mammals. The large number of birds in the project area
necessitated further sub-setting of passerines to their own page. Under each Habitat Model Page,
species were organized alphabetically by their taxonomic order or suborder and scientific name.
CONCLUSIONS
Datasets relevant to the South Platte River Basin were downloaded, or created, and then
processed and co-registered into seamless datasets. We provided a land cover dataset classified
to the National Vegetation Classification System Formation Class thematic level (Gap Level 1)
and the original National Land Cover Dataset (2000). Additionally, we made available seamless
Integrated Climate and Land Use Scenarios, elevation, geology, hydrology, satellite imagery,
ancillary and wildlife habitat datasets. Finally, these datasets were uploaded and organized into
an online data browser in order to be easily accessible for public access and download.
With these contemporary datasets available, analyses on the South Platte Watershed's hydrology,
habitat and conservation practices are possible in conjunction with future land-use change
scenarios. Considering the projected population growth within the basin and its rapidly growing
cities, it is these kinds of analyses that become necessary in order to maintain the integrity of the
water resources of the watershed. This online database will provide important information for
environmental decision making within the South Platte River Basin.
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LITERATURE CITED
Boykin, K.G., B.C. Thompson, R.A. Deitner, D. Schrupp, D. Bradford, Lee O'Brien, C. Drost,
S. Propeck-Gray, W. Rieth, K. Thomas, W. Kepner, J. Lowry, C. Cross, B. Jones, T.
Hamer, C. Mettenbrink, KJ. Oakes, J. Prior-Magee, K. Schulz, J. J. Wynne, C. King, J.
Puttere, S. Schrader, and Z. Schwenke. 2007. Predicted Animal Habitat Distributions and
Species Richness. Chapter 3 in J.S. Prior-Magee, ed. Southwest Regional Gap Analysis
Final Report. U.S. Geological Survey, Gap Analysis Program, Moscow, ID. Available
on-line at: http://fws-nmcfwru.nmsu.edu/swregap/.
Comer, P. J. and Schulz, K.A. 2007. Standardized Ecological Classification Mesoscale Mapping
in the Southwestern United States Rangeland Ecology and Management. 60:324- 335.
Fry, J., Xian, G., Jin, S., Dewitz, J., Homer, C., Yang, L., Barnes, C., Herold, N., and Wickham,
J. 2011. Completion of the 2006 National Land Cover Database for the Conterminous
United States, PE&RS. 77(9):858-864.
IPCC (2001) Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis. Contribution of Working Group
I to the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK), p 881.
Jennings, M.D., Faber-Langendoen, D., Loucks, O.L., Peet, R. K. and Roberts, D. 2009.
Standards for Associations and Alliances of the U.S. National Vegetation Classification.
Ecological Monographs. 79(2): 173-199.
Nakicenovic N, and Swart R, eds. 2000. Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge, UK), p 570.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 2009. Land-Use Scenarios: National-Scale
Housing-Density Scenarios Consistent with Climate Change Storylines. Global Change
Research Program, National Center for Environmental Assessment, Washington, DC;
EPA/600/R-08/076F. Available from: National Technical Information Service,
Springfield, VA, and online at
http://cfpub.epa.gov/ncea/global/recordisplay.cfm?deid=203458.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 2010. ICLUS VI.3 User's Manual: ARCGIS Tools for
Modeling US Housing Density Growth. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Global
Change Research Program, National Center for Environmental Assessment, EPA/600/R-
09/143F. http://cfpub.epa.gov/ncea/global/recordisplay.cfm?deid=205305.
U.S. Geological Survey, Gap Analysis Program (GAP). 2011. National Land Cover, Version 2.
Accessed on October 2011, online at: http://gapanalysis.usgs.gov/gaplandcover/data/.
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APPENDICES
Appendix A. Data inventory
There are a number of data elements associated with the South Platte River Data Browser
(http://fws-case-12.nmsu.edu/SouthPlatte/). All data are provided in WinZIP 9.0 compressed zip
files.
Data elements include:
1. Data Collection
• Minimum of 23 datasets and associated metadata for use in subsequent tasks.
2. Data Process
• Zip files of seamless datasets and associated metadata
3. Land Cover Mapping
• Land cover map for South Platte River Basin study area
o Ecological System Level similar to product for SWReGAP
o NLCD Classification
• Combined DEM for South Platte River Basin Study Area
• FGDC metadata for delivered geospatial datasets
4. Summary report describing methods, processing and data.
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Appendix B. South Platte Watershed Datasets and Sources
Dataset
Source
NWS Meteorological Gauge Locations
USGS Stream Gauge Locations
FAO Soils
STATSGO Soils
SSURGO Soils
Elevation
Slope
Aspect
Shaded Relief(Hillshade)
Flow Accumulation
Flow Direction
Land Ownership
Gap Management
Geology/Lithology
USGS HUC - 8 Digit
USGS HUC -12 Digit
Roads
Digital Raster Graphics
DOQQs
National Hydrography Dataset+
Quadrangle Frames 12K - 250K
Geographic Names Populated
Non-Populated Place Names
Place Names
Census Tract
Urban Areas
Counties
BLM Allotments
USGS National Land Cover Dataset
SWReGAP Habitat Models
USGS Land Cover GAP Datasets
Annual Precipitation (PRISM) 1971-2000
Integrated Climate and Land-Use Scenarios
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/ncdc.html
http://www.horizon-systems.com/nhdplus/data.php
http://www.fao.org/
http://datagateway.nrcs.usda.gov
http://datagateway.nrcs.usda.gov
http://seamless.usgs.gov
http://seamless.usgs.gov
http://seamless.usgs.gov
http://seamless.usgs.gov
http://www.horizon-systems.com/nhdplus/data.php
http://www.horizon-systems.com/nhdplus/data.php
http//gapanalysis.usgs.gov
http//gapanalysis.usgs.gov
http://datagateway.nrcs.usda.gov
http://datagateway.nrcs.usda.gov
http://datagateway.nrcs.usda.gov
http://www.census.gov
http://datagateway.nrcs.usda.gov
http://datagateway.nrcs.usda.gov
http://www.horizonsystems.com/nhdplus/data.php
http://datagateway.nrcs.usda.gov
http://datagateway.nrcs.usda.gov
http://datagateway.nrcs.usda.gov
http://www.census.gov
http://www.census.gov
http://www.census.gov
http://www.census.gov
http://www.blm.gov
http://www.mlrc.gov
http ://fws-nmcfwru. nmsu. edu/swregap
http//gapanalysis.usgs.gov
http://www.prism.oregonstate.edu/
http://cfpub.epa. gov/ncea/global/recordisplay.cfm?deid=205305
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