GIS Visualization and Analysis of River Operations Impacts on Endangered Species Habitat
Publication: Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 132, Issue 3
Abstract
Many river systems include natural and manmade backwater areas providing habitat for a diverse community of aquatic and aviary species, including several listed as endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Concern has been raised over ecological impacts of river operations on these species and their habitat in these backwater areas. A methodology is presented that utilizes a geographic information system (GIS) in association with a numerical hydraulic model to assess these impacts. The GIS provides geostatistical estimates of water surface elevations within the backwaters during passage of a hydrograph created by reservoir releases, and then quantifies and provides animated visualization of the changes in habitat for many species dwelling in these areas. This generalized tool is applied to a portion of the Lower Colorado River in Arizona/California, which includes several dams and diversion structures controlling flow for a variety of important purposes. It is demonstrated that this GIS-based tool provides effective support for river system operators in assessing the impacts of operations on endangered species habitat and evaluating remedial measures.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Bovee, K. D., Lamb, B. L., Bartholow, J. M., Stalnaker, C. B., Taylor, J., and Henriksen, J. (1998). “Stream habitat analysis using the instream flow incremental technology.” Information Technology Rep. No. 131, Biological Resources Division, U.S. Geological Survey, Denver.
Fagot, K. (2001). “Endangered species along the Lower Colorado River.” Proc., 2001 Wetlands Engineering and River Restoration Conf., ASCE, Reston, Va.
Fagot, K., and Carson, R. (2002). “Analysis of water transfer effects on flows and elevations at selected sites along the Lower Colorado River.” U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Lower Colorado Region, Boulder City, Nev.
Hardy, T. B., and Addley, R. C. (2001). “Vertical integration of spatial and hydraulic data for improved habitat modelling using geographic information systems.” Proc., 22nd Int. Workshop (HW2), XXII General Assembly of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics, IAHS Press, Wallingford, U.K.
Iwerks, G. S., and Samet, H. (2000). “Query results over time in a GIS using animation.” Proc., 4th Int. Conf.: Advances in Visual Information Systems, Springer, Lyon, France.
Johnson, G. D., Strickland, M. D., Buyok, J. P., Derby, C. E., and Young, D. P. (1999). “Quantifying impacts to riparian wetlands associated with reduced flows along the Greybull River, Wyoming.” Wetlands, 19(1), 71–77.
McConville, D. R., Owens, T. W., and Redmond, A. S. (1996). “Geospatial application: A geographic information system interface designed for use in river management.” Environmental Management Technical Center, National Biological Service, Onalaska, Wis.
Minckley, W. L. (1979). “Aquatic habitats and fishes of the Lower Colorado River, Southwestern United States.” Final Rep., U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Lower Colorado Region, Boulder City, Nev.
Olea, R. A. (1999). Geostatistics for engineers and earth scientists, Kluwer Academic, Boston.
Olsen, D. A. (1995). “Geospatial application: Aquatic habitat analysis and visualization tool.” Environmental Management Technical Center, National Biological Survey, Onalaska, Wis.
Pucherelli, M. J., Clark, R. C., and Williams, R. D. (1990a). “Green and Colorado Rivers habitat mapping using airborne video.” Applied Sciences Branch, Research and Laboratory Services Division, U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, Denver.
Pucherelli, M. J., Clark, R. C., and Williams, R. D. (1990b). “Mapping backwater habitat on the Green River as related to the operation of Flaming Gorge Dam using remote sensing and GIS.” Applied Sciences Branch, Research and Laboratory Services Division, U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, Denver.
Railsback, S. (1999). “Reducing uncertainties in instream flow studies.” Fisheries, 24(4), 24–26.
Rieker, J. D. (2003). “GIS support and visualization of the environmental effects of river operations on backwaters in the Lower Colorado River.” M.S. thesis, Colorado State Univ., Ft. Collins, Colo.
Saiki, M. K., Kennedy, D. M., and Nash, J. C. (1980). “Effects of water developments on the Lower Colorado River.” Cal-Nevada Wildlife Transactions, 1980, 100–111.
Stalnaker, C. B., Lamb, B. L., Henriksen, J., Bovee, J. K. D., and Bartholow, J. M. (1995). “The instream flow incremental methodology: A primer for IFIM.” Biological Rep. No. 29, National Biological Service, U.S. Department of Interior, Ft. Collins, Colo.
Stokes, S. J. (2002). “Conservation plan for the Lower Colorado River multi-species conservation program.” Second Administrative Draft, Sacramento, Calif.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). (2000). HEC-GeoRAS: An extension for support of HEC-RAS using ArcView, user’s manual, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Hydrologic Engineering Center, Davis, Calif.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Construction Research Laboratories (USACERL). (1993). GRASS 4.1 user’s reference manual, Champaign, Ill.
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (BOR). (1996). “Description and assessment of operations, maintenance, and sensitive species of the Lower Colorado River: Biological assessment.” Lower Colorado Region, Boulder City, Nev.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). (1997). “Biological and conference opinion on Lower Colorado River operations and maintenance: Lake Mead to southerly international boundary.” Final Rep. Prepared for U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Lower Colorado Region, Boulder City, Nev.
U.S. Geological Survey (2001). PHABSIM for Windows, Midcontinent Ecological Science Center.
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). (2002). “USGS digital elevation model data.” EROS Data Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Sioux Falls, S.D.
Vadas, R. G., Labadie, J. W., and Garcia, L. A. (1995). “A methodology for water quantity and quality assessment for wetland development.” Water Sci. Technol., 31(8), 293–300.
Wick, E. J. (1997). “Physical processes and habitat critical to the endangered razorback sucker on the Green River, Utah.” Ph.D. dissertation, Colorado State Univ., Ft. Collins, Colo.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 132 • Issue 3 • May 2006
Pages: 153 - 163
Copyright
© 2006 ASCE.
History
Received: Sep 3, 2004
Accepted: Sep 14, 2005
Published online: May 1, 2006
Published in print: May 2006
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.