Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Basin of Lake Erie, and contributing watersheds including the Maumee, Portage,
and Ottawa Rivers. This 10-year study primarily addresses land use/cover changes,
conservation tillage practices, and water quality monitoring. A secondary element
of this plan is to develop a basin wide Geographic Information System (GIS) to aid
in watershed planning projects and public outreach.
The watershed management approach has emerged as a holistic and integral way
of research, analysis and decision-making at a watershed scale (Montgomery et al.
1995 ; Perciasepe 1994 ; Voinov and Costanza 1999 ). Initially oriented toward the
control of water supply and use, it has shifted to include a concern for water quality
and the combined effects of land use in the drainage basin, particularly since non-
point pollution has overtaken point-source pollution as a primary concern as a cause
of impairment (Nelson and Weschler 1998 ). By relating water quality and land use
concerns, a link is created between science and planning, thereby connecting all
stakeholders, community leaders, agency administrators, and concerned citizens in
the watershed. Basin-wide collaborations can provide the expertise, scientific
backing, moral support, and political leadership necessary to implement regional
plans. Nelson and Weschler's ( 1998 ) study suggested that the Maumee River
Watershed might not be ready for this kind of collaboration, but with the imple-
mentation of a GIS-based institutional atlas, the organizations could be moving in
the right direction towards integration.
GIS is a general-purpose technology for handling geographic data in digital form
(McKinney and Cai 2002 ). GIS has the ability to combine physical features, political
and administrative jurisdictions, and organizational missions in order to make sound
recommendations or decisions for the entire watershed. The advances of GIS have
grown beyond simple data management, storage, and mapping. Today, a more
sophisticated means of analysis is being utilized by combining various mathematical
and computer generated models with spatial data within the GIS. Simulation models
are useful tools for analysis of watershed processes and their interactions, and for
development and assessment of watershed management scenarios (He 2003 ).
Government and academic institutions throughout the United States as well as
watershed groups have developed surveys addressing the application and utility of
GIS products for watershed planning. The California Watershed Group Information
Needs Survey ( 2004 ) was conducted to identify information needs to support water-
shed groups that are involved in developing watershed assessments and related
planning documents, and conducting watershed projects. The Bay Area GIS Survey's
( 2001 ) purpose was to build the foundation for Geographic Information System data
sharing/exchange, as well as metadata awareness and usage in the Bay region.
9.2 Study Site
The Western Lake Erie Basin covers over 4.9 million acres across Ohio, Michigan
and Indiana. The Maumee River, the most prominent watershed in the basin, begins
in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and extends more than 130 miles to Lake Erie, 105 miles of
which are located in Ohio. The Maumee River has the largest drainage area of any
Great Lakes river with 8,316 square miles and drains some of the richest farmland
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