JV Impaired Watersheds (Pxl)

Joint Ventures (JVs) are bird conservation partnerships, established to achieve the goals of the North American Waterfowl Management Plan (NAWMP). There are 22 bird habitat JVs in North America, and our JV, the Upper Mississippi/Great Lakes Region Joint Venture (UMGL JV) is located in the Midwest, in a pivotal location in the Mississippi Flyway, for people involved in migratory bird conservation. We are a collaborative, regional group of government agencies, tribes, nonprofit organizations, corporations, universities, and individuals that conserve habitat for the benefit of migratory birds, other wildlife, and people. Our landscape includes eastern Minnesota; all of Wisconsin and Michigan; eastern Nebraska and Kansas; western, southern and eastern Iowa; northern Missouri, Illinois and Indiana; and northwestern Ohio. Targeting conservation to achieve biological objectives for Birds and social objectives for People is a priority for JVs. Having better water quality and aquatic goods and services while conserving the habitat of birds is a social objective at the UMGL JV. The condition of landscapes and the ecological communities within them is strongly related to levels of human activity, and in this JV region cultivated cropland and developed land account for the greatest landscape alteration. With assistance from JV science partners, spatial data were generated to depict impaired sub-basins most contributing to Gulf hypoxia via the Mississippi River and to altered sub-basins negatively influencing ecological systems along the coasts of the Great Lakes. Retaining and improving system health in the Gulf of Mexico and the Great Lakes portend great economic (e.g., commercial fisheries), recreational (e.g., sport fishing and hunting), and general tourist-related implications within and beyond the JV region. Sediment and nutrient inputs and flooding far exceed natural levels in highly altered landscapes, and restoration of wetlands and associated upland plant communities can help naturalize riverine and coastal aquatic systems while integrating biological and social objectives. With strategic placement of conservation delivery, bird-habitat related goods and services can include flood abatement, fish nurseries, open space, biological diversity, carbon sequestration, and many others. Hydrologic regions were reviewed for landscape development intensity at the sub-basin scale (8-digit hydrologic unit, Natural Resources Conservation Service) and ranked by degree of alteration. Mississippi River impaired sub-basins due to agricultural land-use had already been ranked (Conservation Fund 2016). However, we refined and expanded this process using the National Landcover Dataset and spatial data from the National Agricultural Statistics Service. Sub-basin conservation need was based on combined land coverage by cultivated cropland and development within both the Mississippi River/Gulf Hypoxia and Great Lakes Hydrologic Regions. Finally, we converted the original raster dataset of this model to TIFF format (this product) to improve data visualization, assessment, and interactivity online. This raster was weighted and combined with other rasters to produce the Grassland-bird and Forest-bird Decision Support Tools published in the JV Landbird Habitat Conservation Strategy – 2020 Revision (Appendix F, Figures A and B, respectively). It updated and combined two models published in several previous JV publications: 1) models published in the JV Waterfowl Habitat Conservation Strategy – 2017 Revision (Figures 17A and B); 2) models published in JV's technical report 2017-1 entitled: Targeting Conservation for Waterfowl and People: A Decision Support Tool; and 3) models published in the JV Waterbird Habitat Conservation Strategy – 2018 Revision (Figures 12A and B). This product shows the distribution and relative density (scale of 0 – 1; values of low – high) of the most valuable areas (pixel neighborhoods) across the JV region, to acquire or manage whatever the required conservation action at the local scale is (i.e., retention, protection, and or restoration). Aggregate-priority-areas were predicted to produce the most value for the decision makers. This product can be scaled-down (i.e., stepped-down to state, watershed, county, or any smaller target area) and supplemented with additional local data for customized output maps depicting best areas for bird habitat restoration vs. retention vs. enhancement to benefit people through better water quality and aquatic goods and services. See the JV website and related step-down publications for details. Links: To download this TIFF dataset and related data, metadata, and documentation, please contact us. To view and explore this TIFF dataset and related data, please visit the online experience of the UMGL JV Decision Support Tools. References: Model codes and final steps (for internal use of UMGLJV staff): albers_Jv20LbImpWtshd → converted to TIFF and projected on-the-fly to WGS84 → renamed to Jv20LbImpWtshdR. For internal use of USFWS staff: Data Management Plan (DMP) ID = 772; Title: UMGL JV Distribution of Impaired Watersheds.