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Watershed Central: Harnessing a social media tool to organize local technical knowledge and find the right watershed resources for your watershed
Citation:
LEHMAN, S., J. R. WILLIAMS, C. A. COOPER, E. JACKSON, K. Balassiano, AND M. COPELAND. Watershed Central: Harnessing a social media tool to organize local technical knowledge and find the right watershed resources for your watershed. Presented at USA Water Quality Conference, Washington, DC, January 31 - February 01, 2011.
Impact/Purpose:
Poster for the the USA Water Quality Conference in Washington DC (January 31 – February 1, 2011)
Description:
Watershed Central was developed to be a bridge between sharing and searching for information relating to watershed issues. This is dependent upon active user support through additions and updates to the Watershed Central Wiki. Since the wiki is user driven, the content and applicability is controlled by the users. The wiki provides a quick reference to various models and tools that can be of use to researchers and land-users that need water-related information. The EPA's Office of Water (OW), Office of Research and Development (ORD), and Office of Environmental Information (0E1) teamed together with other Federal, State, Local and Tribal agencies, and non-government organizations, to develop an integrated framework for providing watershed managers and decision-makers with the tools and resources needed to develop, implement and evaluate watershed management plans. The framework is being utilized as the basis for Watershed Central to provide a centralized location to access these. As a result of a development workshop held January, 2007, several models, tools, databases, resources, and website user requirements were identified by a wide range of watershed managers. The workshop provided the baseline for what became Watershed Central, and set the framework for the identification of gaps in information, science and tools needed by watershed managers. Watershed Central is a valuable resource to local watershed managers, and a feedback mechanism for Agency decision-makers to use in the prioritization of research and technical support / technology transfer needs.