Data on annual total nitrogen loads and watershed characteristics used to develop a method to estimate the total nitrogen loads in small streams

This USGS Data Release represents the data used to develop multiple linear regression models for estimating the loads of total nitrogen in small streams. Recursive partitioning and random forest regression were used to assess 85 geospatial, environmental, and watershed variables across 636 small (less than 585 square kilometers) watersheds to determine which variables are fundamentally important to the estimation of annual loads of total nitrogen. These data support the following publication: Kronholm, S.C., Capel, P.D., and Terziotti, Silvia, 2016, Statistically extracted fundamental watershed variables for estimating the loads of total nitrogen in small streams: Environmental Modeling and Assessment, 10 p., http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10666-016-9525-3.