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A Decision Support Tool to Evaluate Sources and Sinks of Nitrogen within a Watershed Framework
Citation:
Arnold, C. AND Q. Kellogg. A Decision Support Tool to Evaluate Sources and Sinks of Nitrogen within a Watershed Framework. Presented at ORD Nitrogen Integrated Research Strategy Group Seminar Series, Webinar, February 07, 2013.
Impact/Purpose:
This presenation to ORD Nitrogen Integrated Research Strategy Group Seminar Series will describe ongoing research and development of a nitrogen management decision support tool for watershed decision making.
Description:
Human transformation of the nitrogen (N) cycle is causing a number of environmental and human health problems. Federal, state and local authorities focusing on management of N loadings face both technical and non-technical challenges. One technical issue is that we need a better understanding of N sources, sinks and pathways. While these factors can be highly location dependent, the literature does point to several general relationships governed by land use/land cover. Given, then, that land use practices and policies can have a great impact on N delivery to our waters, a major non-technical challenge is to translate our understanding of land use/nitrogen cycling relationships into recommended practices that local land use decision makers can adopt and act upon. N-Sink is a prototype customized ArcMap© program providing maps of N sources and sinks within a watershed, and estimating the delivery efficiency of N movement from sources to the watershed outlet. The primary objective of N-Sink is to assist land use planners, watershed managers, and land conservation organizations to evaluate land use plans, prioritize restoration projects, and focus resources in areas that are most likely to yield reductions in N delivery to coastal or other affected waters. This webinar will review the assumptions and operations underlying N-Sink and the status of its development, and describe a new project with EPA ORD to turn the existing prototype into a working GIS decision support tool.