Collaborative Research and Data Delivery at the NRRI GIS Laboratory

1. Collaborative Research and Data Delivery at the NRRI GIS Laboratory George HostCenter for Water and the EnvironmentNatural Resources Research Institute May 20, 2009

2. Outline • Recent and ongoing collaborative research • Lake Superior Streams • Amphibian/Atrazine relationships • Breeding Bird monitoring • Horticultural peat mining • Data delivery and analysis tools • Lake Trends: Google Map Visualization of Historic Lake Data • Great Lakes Environmental Indicators– Great Lakes Basin • Lake Superior Decision Support – Lake Superior Basin • CoastalGIS – LS North Shore • LCCMR Data Portal – Minnesota – statewide aquatic and terrestrial • North Shore Data Consortium

3. Western Lake Superior Sanitary District LakeSuperiorStreams.org and the Regional Stormwater Protection Team

4. Why focus on Lake Superior Streams? • Hundreds of vulnerable trout streams on North and South Shores –some Impaired • Sensitive to temp, flow, O2, sediment, turbidity, nutrients • Lake Superior is the ultimate receiving body of water • Many smaller communities (MS4s) now need stormwater plans and permits

5. “..protect and enhance the region's shared water resources through stormwater pollution prevention by providing coordinated educational programs and technical assistance” Initiate watershed and stormwater projects Share information, ideas, resources, grant writing, technical expertise and more. Western Lake Superior Regional Stormwater Protection Team (co-evolved with LSS.org ; now >26 organizations)

6. Lester-Amity Watershed Stressors Stream Scale Study Potential stress levels summed by subwatershed Upstream stressors accumulate downstream

7. RD-83087901-0 Effects of Hydrology and Land Use on Amphibians in the Prairie Pothole Region Lucinda B. Johnson, Patrick K. Schoff, Jennifer H. Olker, Tom Hollenhorst, Angela K. Rohweder Glenn R. Guntenspergen W. Carter Johnson

8. Intensive Scale: 0.01 – 0.62 μg/L Survey 2: mid-May – mid-June PPR Atrazine 2004 2005

9. Distance (m) to wetlands within 2 km Wetland density (seasonal and semi-permanent) across with Prairie Pothole Region with examples of density and distance to all wetlands within 2 km of study sites.

10. Landscape connectivity when seasonal wetlands are lost (500 m buffers) all SP, all S, 0% T all SP, 40% S, 0% T all SP, 0% S, 0% T

11. Songbird monitoring plotsSample NW ¼ of every township over 3 years – 540 maps/yr

12. Horticultural Peat Mining Map serves to delineate areas for Guide to reclamation Leasing land to another operation Release from permit (reclamation completed) Collaborators: MN DNR Army Corps of Engineers Michigan Peat Co. Peat Inc. Allow accurate assessment of site for reclamation, permitting, and continued mining

13. Data delivery and analysis tools • Lake Trend Visualization Tool - Minnesota • Great Lakes Environmental Indicators– Great Lakes Basin • Lake Superior Decision Support – Lake Superior Basin • CoastalGIS – Lake Superior North Shore • LCCMR Data Portal – Minnesota – statewide • North Shore Data Consortium

14. LakeTrends – Google map-based search for historic lake water quality data Near surface temperature Secchi depth

15. Great Lakes Environmental Indicators 2002-2006 27 investigators across 10 collaborating institutions GIS analysis of ‘segmentsheds’ and stressors provided a means to direct field crews to sample sites GIS matched with web-based data entry and retrieval system

16. Lake Superior Decision Support SystemsEPA GLNPO, Lake Superior Lakewide Mgt Plan (LaMP), state agencies

17. Watershed Stressors for the Lake Superior Basin

18. Watershed Stressors for the Lake Superior Basin Integrated stessors (road density, NPDES permit density, % agriculture, % urban) Summarized by high rest watershed

19. Watershed health visualization tool

20. Extent: variable – Coastal Program Boundary, watersheds, counties www.nrri.umn.edu/coastalgis/

21. Statewide Conservation Plan Data Portal • Democratizing access to Minnesota’s data assets: a user friendly data integration and visualization tool • Online resource to access data from contemporary diverse sources • Emphasis on data integration - allow web based analysis, rather than just visualization, of GIS data sets. • How many townships in the Arrowhead? • Trout streams in Hennepin County? • Private / Public land by zipcode in St. Louis Co.? • http://gisdata.nrri.umn.edu/MNConserve

22. Upcoming: North Shore Data Consortium • Motivation: strong interest in high res spatial data for land use planning and environmental assessment, LiDAR in particular • Issue: Interagency strategies for data prioritization and funding are needed

23. Upcoming: North Shore Data Consortium • Coastal Program Proposal: • Create the North Shore Data Consortium as a vehicle for bringing interested parties together • Acquire LiDAR for a segment of Lake Superior’s North Shore to demonstrate capabilities of data • Potential collaborators: Agency, academic, tribal, NGO, and industrial partners • Status: recommended to NOAA for funding by Gov. Council on MN Coastal Program

24. Take-home points • All natural resources have some sort of spatial context • GIS can play a role through the full analytic process • Forming the question • How and where to sample • A factor level in data analysis • Delivering results

25. Take-home points • Interagency collaborations • This land is your land • This land is my land • How about OUR land? • Democratizing data is a key to successful planning and management!

26. NRRI GIS web sites • Great Lakes Environmental Indicators • http://glei.nrri.umn.edu • Lake Superior Streams • www.LakeSuperiorStreams.org • Lake Superior Decision Support Systems • www.nrri.umn.edu/lsgis2 • Statewide Plan – interactive collaboration site • http://Gisdata.nrri.umn.edu/MNConserve