Presentation format with USGS Visual Identity

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USGS National Hydrography Dataset Stewardship
in West Virginia
George Heleine USGS NHD POC Region 5 NGTOC
Rolla, Missouri
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NHD Stewardship

• The NHD was designed and substantially built by
  three Federal partners USGS, EPA and the USDA
  Forest Service. It was designed to be a reliable
  source of data that would grow both through
  system-wide revisions and the contributions of
  its users. While the Federal agencies generally
  represent a national perspective, thousands of
  other users have used the NHD to record and
  analyze waterways in their local areas. The data
  they have developed as users are then fed back to
  develop and refine the NHD as a whole.
• Because the data will come increasingly from
  local sources, there will be a greater need for
  management and oversight at an intermediary
  level. Those intermediaries are referred to as
  "data stewards." The NHD will be maintained
  through data stewardship, a program in which the
  user community assumes more responsibility for
  the success of the NHD. Stewardship will be
  distributed across the Nation, typically on a
  State-by-State basis, and the principal stewards
  will coordinate and assume responsibility for the
  NHD at this level. Other organizations, which
  could have specific local or topical interests,
  may then assume further stewardship under the
  auspices of the principal stewards. This
  distributes stewardship down to the organizations
  that have the best available information on the
  hydrography in their area. These users can
  perform the actual enhancements with oversight
  and support from the principal stewards. These
  edits will become transactions provided to the
  NHD database that the USGS will maintain on
  behalf of the entire user community.
• The NHD has been specifically designed to
  accommodate these transactions. Obviously, some
  changes can have significant impacts. Stream
  classification, for example, can affect natural
  resource management, flood hazard risk,
  development, storm water management, water
  rights, etc. It is essential that any changes
  made to the NHD are valid. The NHD also will
  depend on users not just to add and improve data,
  but to help identify policies and procedures that
  assure reliability and validity.
• The USGS is already working with some agencies
  and groups that are interested in becoming NHD
  data stewards. Common needs and interests offer
  opportunities for partnerships to collect,
  maintain, access, and use basic spatial data
  among federal agencies and with other public
  organizations, notably State agencies or regional
  organizations. The most direct benefit of shared
  maintenance is the ability to have access to
  up-to-date information of changes on the
  landscape and to receive spatial data that
  faithfully represents those changes. The best
  sources for information about changes are those
  closest to the change, such as State and local
  governments.
• The key to implementing stewardship is having an
  editing tool that can deal with the unique
  characteristics of NHD data. It will allow
  stewards to upgrade the NHD while preserving the
  integrity of the model and the geometric network.
  An editing tool specific to the NHD, known as
  NHDGeoEdit, was developed by ESRI for the Forest
  Service. USGS has assumed responsibility for
  maintaining and improving the tool. The tool will
  be available to the data stewards, but it does
  require some training to use. The USGS will train
  the principal stewards and they, in turn, will
  train their cadre of supporting organizations.

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The Role of the Data Steward

• The data steward's responsibilities include
• Guarantee that updated NHD data pass all
  validation tests.
• Assure that the core content (features,
  attributes and relationships identified in the
  NHD standards) is included.
• Keep the data current.
• Consider any change submitted and decide
  authoritatively if it will be accepted or not.
  (Some changes can have significant impacts, and
  it is essential that any changes made to the NHD
  are valid.)
• Report the decision publicly.
• Respond to proposed changes within some agreed
  upon reasonable time.
• Provide publicly available information on status
  of data development and updating.
• Maintain awareness of activities by other
  agencies and groups.

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Why Stewardship

• The community of users become the stewards of the
  data
• The USGS facilitates the stewardship process
• The users evolve the data to best meet their
  needs
• The USGS guides the evolution for national
  continuity

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Challenges for State Stewardship(Past, Present
Future)

• Critical lack of available funding for NHD
  projects such as conflation and maintenance
• Options?
• Current economic environment does hurt projects
  but environmental management still important
• USGS grant funding available through USGS NSDI
  Partnership Liaisons
• EPA funding available (support via TMDL or STORET
  projects)
• Stewards must seek out in-state funding through
  partnerships with water management agencies,
  regional planning councils, counties and/or
  municipal governments

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Challenges for State Stewardship(Past, Present
Future)

• Lack of good communication/web resources for the
  NHD
• Options?
• USGS developing a MyUSGS web site for stewards
  and technicians to communicate
• USGS Stewardship web site developed
• NHD POC reorganized into 6 regions and all
  positions filled
• Monthly NHD newsletter available via Jeff Simley
• States should develop a web site for secondary
  stewards and in-state stakeholders

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Challenges for State Stewardship(Past, Present
Future)

• Selling the NHD to prospective stakeholders
• Options?
• GIS is a decision making tool, but needs good
  quality data to support good decision making.
• Water systems are dynamic and require maintenance
  to increase data quality.
• Sell the use of the NHD as a subset for water
  quality, monitoring and habitat management
• NHD POCs deal with 9-10 states plus internal
  issues allow response time accordingly.

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