Watershed Scale Response to Climate Change— South Fork Flathead River, Montana

In 2008, the U.S. Geological Survey Global Change Program funded a study to examine integrated watershed scale response to global change in selected watersheds across the United States. Fourteen watersheds for which hydrologic models had been created using the Precipitation Runoff Modeling System (PRMS) were selected as study sites. PRMS is a deterministic, distributed-parameter, watershed model developed to evaluate the effects of various combinations of precipitation, temperature, and land use on streamflow and hydrology. The portion of the South Fork Flathead River watershed located upstream from Hungry Horse Dam in northwestern Montana is 1 of the 14 study sites. Results from six General Circulation Models (GCMs), each using three GCM scenarios, were used to develop climate change scenarios for 2001-2099 for input to the existing PRMS model for the South Fork Flathead River. These PRMS simulations using the GCM scenarios were compared to PRMS simulations for current (1988-2000) conditions. All GCM simulations project an overall increase in temperature. Projected changes in precipitation for the South Fork Flathead River watershed were variable, with a slight tendency towards an increase in precipitation in the latter half of the 21st century. PRMS simulations using the GCM scenarios project slightly increased mean annual streamflow in the South Fork Flathead River from about 2020-2099. However, these simulations project that less precipitation falls as snow, resulting in increased mean monthly streamflow January through April and decreased mean monthly streamflow June through September. Information from these climate-change simulations could be useful for management of Hungry Horse Reservoir

Estimating and Comparing Demand Functions forf Personal Use Christmas Tree Cutting at Seven Utah Sites

The travel cost model of recreation demand analysis was applied to seven USDA Forest Service Ranger Districts in Utah. The objectives were to (1) estimate consumers\u27 surplus and total willingness to pay values for the recreational component of personal use Christmas tree gathering, and (2) compare these Utah results with each other and with the Markstrom and Donnelly (1988) results from Colorado, the only other travel cost analysis of Christmas tree gathering from public lands. The results were that per-trip consumer\u27 s surplus estimates ranged from $6.71 to$31.17, compared to Markstrom and Donnelly\u27s (1988) estimate of $10.05. There is sufficient intersite variation that the demand functions from any site cannot be readily applied to any other

Hydrologic Modeling of the Apalachicola–Chattahoochee–flint River Basin Using the U.S. Geological Survey Precipitation Runoff Modeling System

Proceedings of the 2011 Georgia Water Resources Conference, April 11, 12, and 13, 2011, Athens, Georgia.The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Southeast Regional Assessment Project (SERAP) was initiated in 2009 to help environmental resource managers assess the potential effects of climate change on ecosystems. One component of the SERAP program is the development and calibration of a set of multiresolution hydrologic models of the Apalachicola– Chattahoochee–Flint (ACF) River Basin. The ACF River Basin, which is home to numerous fish and wildlife species of conservation concern, is regionally important for water supply and is a focus of complementary environmental and climate-change research. Hydrologic models of varying spatial extents and resolutions are required to address varied localto- regional water-resource management questions as required by the scope and limitations of potential management actions. These models were developed by using the USGS Precipitation Runoff Modeling System (PRMS). The coarse-scale model developed for the ACF River Basin has a contributing area of approximately 50,700 square kilometers. Six fine-resolution PRMS models, ranging in size from 396 to 2,690 square kilometers, are nested within the coarse-scale model and have been developed for the following basins: the upper Chattahoochee, Chestatee, and Chipola Rivers, and Ichawaynochaway, Potato, and Spring Creeks. Both coarse- and fine-scale models simulate basin hydrology using daily timesteps, measured climatic data, and basin characteristics, such as land cover and topography. Measured streamflow data are used to calibrate and evaluate computed basin hydrology. Being able to project future hydrologic conditions for this set of models will rely on the use of land cover projections in conjunction with downscaled Global Climate Model results.Sponsored by: Georgia Environmental Protection Division U.S. Geological Survey, Georgia Water Science Center U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia Water Resources Institute The University of Georgia, Water Resources FacultyThis book was published by Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, The University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602-2152. The views and statements advanced in this publication are solely those of the authors and do not represent official views or policies of The University of Georgia, the U.S. Geological Survey, the Georgia Water Research Institute as authorized by the Water Research Institutes Authorization Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-307) or the other conference sponsors

Simulating Climate and Landscape Effects on Hydrology using the Precipitation Runoff Modeling System in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin, Southeastern USA

Proceedings of the 2013 Georgia Water Resources Conference, April 10-11, 2013, Athens, Georgia.To help environmental resource managers assess potential effects of climate change on ecosystems, the Southeast Regional Assessment Project (SERAP) began in 2009. One component of the SERAP is development and calibration of a set of multi-resolution hydrologic models of the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) River Basin. The ACF River Basin is home to multiple fish and wildlife species of conservation concern, is regionally important for water supply, and has been a recent focus of environmental and climate-change research. Hydrologic models of varying spatial extents and resolutions are required to address varied local-to-regional water-resource management questions as required by the scope and limits of potential management actions. These models are developed using the U.S. Geological Survey Precipitation Runoff Modeling System (PRMS). A coarse-scale model developed for the ACF River Basin has a contributing area of approximately 50,700 km2; while, six fine-resolution PRMS models ranging in size from 396 km2 to 2,690 km2 are nested within the coarse-scale model, and have been developed for the following basins: the upper Chattahoochee, Chestatee, and Chipola Rivers, and Ichawaynochaway, Potato, and Spring Creeks. Both coarse- and fine-scale models simulate basin hydrology using daily time-steps, measured climatic data, and basin characteristics such as land cover and topography. Measured streamflow data are used to calibrate and evaluate computed basin hydrology. Land cover projections are used in conjunction with downscaled Global Climate Model results to simulate future hydrologic conditions for this set of models.Sponsored by: Georgia Environmental Protection Division; U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service; Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia Water Resources Institute; The University of Georgia, Water Resources Faculty.This book was published by Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, The University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602-2152. The views and statements advanced in this publication are solely those of the authors and do not represent official views or policies of The University of Georgia, the Georgia Water Research Institute as authorized by the Water Research Institutes Authorization Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-307) or the other conference sponsors

Accelerating advances in continental domain hydrologic modeling

In the past, hydrological modeling of surface water resources has mainly focused on simulating the hydrologic cycle at local to regional catchment modeling domains. There now exists a level of maturity amongst the catchment, global water security, and land surface modeling communities such that these communities are converging towards continental domain hydrologic models. This commentary, written from a catchment hydrology community perspective, provides a review of progress in each community towards this achievement, identifies common challenges the communities face, and details immediate and specific areas in which these communities can mutually benefit one another from the convergence of their research perspectives. Those include: (1) creating new incentives and infrastructure to report and share model inputs, outputs, and parameters in data services and open access, machine-independent formats for model replication or re-analysis; (2) ensuring that hydrologic models have: sufficient complexity to represent the dominant physical processes and adequate representation of anthropogenic impacts on the terrestrial water cycle, a process-based approach to model parameter estimation, and appropriate parameterizations to represent large-scale fluxes and scaling behaviour; (3) maintaining a balance between model complexity and data availability as well as uncertainties and (4) quantifying and communicating significant advancements towards the modeling goals