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Watershed Resources - Rapid Watershed Assessments

Overview

The NRCS is encouraging the development of Rapid Watershed Assessments (RWAs) in order to increase the speed and efficiency generating information to guide conservation implementation, as well as the speed and efficiency of putting it into the hands of local decision makers.

Currently, RWAs are being developed to provide a natural resource snapshot and overview of each Kansas 8-digit Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC-8). The RWAs organize resource information into one document that local conservationists, units of government, and others can use to identify conservation opportunities and direct technical and financial resources to the appropriate sub basins. They provide a description of the sub basins' natural resources, resource concerns, conservation needs, and ability to resolve natural resource issues and concerns. RWAs typically contain the following information:

  • Physical resources
  • Land use and land cover
  • Water quality conditions report
  • Soil, stream, precipitation data
  • Resource concerns
  • Census and social data
  • Progress/status of conservation by land use
  • Estimated future conservation practice application and associated costs

Most of the data for the RWAs were collected through the National Land Cover Dataset, NRCS National Resources Inventory, Census of Agriculture, and numerous Kansas state agencies including the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE), Kansas State Conservation Commission (SCC), and the Kansas Water Office (KWO). Local NRCS and partnership employee field staffs assisted in the compilation and verification of the data.

Over the course of several years, NRCS will be completing RWAs for the 90 HUC-8 sub basins that are contained within Kansas’ boundaries. The following map shows the priority watersheds for Fiscal Years 2006 (green),  2007 (purple), and 2008 (aqua).

South Fork Republican Lower Sappa Upper Sappa Prairie Dog Upper North Fork Solomon Lower North Fork Solomon Upper South Fork Solomon Lower South Fork Solomon Smoky Hill Headwaters Upper Smoky Hill Middle Arkansas-Lake McKinney Crooked Coon-Pickerel Little Arkansas Lower Smoky Hill Lower Republican Middle Kansas Delaware Lower Kansas Upper Verdigris Lower Marais Des Cygnes Little Osage Marmaton Spring Kansas Map of Rapid Watershed Assessment Watersheds

The above map is available in Adobe Acrobat format.

Adobe Acrobat Document Fiscal Year 2006-2008 Kansas Rapid Watershed Assessment Watersheds Map (708 KB)

Select the following links to view specific resource data for each of the HUC-8 sub basins listed.

HUC-8 Watershed Name Date Published
11030004 Adobe Acrobat Document Coon-Pickerel (1.4 MB) September 2006
11040007 Crooked In Progress
10270103 Adobe Acrobat Document Delaware River (1.8 MB) December 2006
11030012 Adobe Acrobat DocumentLittle Arkansas (resource profile only) (1.7 MB) December 2007
10290103 Little Osage In Progress (with Missouri)
10270104 Lower Kansas In Progress
10290102 Lower Marias Des Cygnes In Progress (with Missouri)
10260012 Adobe Acrobat DocumentLower North Fork Solomon (2.4 MB) December 2007
10250017 Adobe Acrobat Document Lower Republican (1.9 MB) December 2006
10250011 Lower Sappa In Progress
10260008 Lower Smoky Hill In Progress
10260014 Adobe Acrobat DocumentLower South Fork Solomon (2.4 MB) December 2007
10290104 Adobe Acrobat DocumentMarmaton (resource profile only) (1 MB) December 2007
11030001 Middle Arkansas-Lake McKinney In Progress
10270102 Adobe Acrobat Document Middle Kansas River (2.2 MB) December 2006
10250015 Adobe Acrobat DocumentPrairie Dog (resource profile only) (850 KB) December 2007
10260001 Adobe Acrobat DocumentSmoky Hill-Headwaters (resource profile only) (1.1 MB) December 2007
11070207 Spring In Progress (with Missouri)
10250003 South Fork Republican In Progress
10260011 Adobe Acrobat DocumentUpper North Fork Solomon (2.8 MB) December 2007
10250010 Upper Sappa In Progress
10260003 Adobe Acrobat DocumentUpper Smoky Hill (resource profile only) (1.3 MB) December 2007
10260013 Adobe Acrobat DocumentUpper South Fork Solomon (2.8 MB) December 2007
11070101 Adobe Acrobat Document Upper Verdigris (1.4 MB) September 2006

Kansas Watersheds

NRCS Field Office Personnel - Data Collection

Contact

Jeff Gross

Last Modified: 04/11/2008