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Rural counties can easily apply today's geospatial technologies for rather sophisticated planning activities. It can
be done locally and at little expense. A key element is using "other peoples" data. One source of that other data
is a very comprehensive collection of downloadable natural resource and environmental data at the USDA's Geospatial Data
Gateway. At that site, a number of data sets are available; but for our purposes, we'll illustrate what can be done with
the topographic and aerial photographic data downloads. The assessment methodology consists of the following steps:
- Defining drainage ways and watershed areas of interest using the downloaded topographic data
- Inventorying pertinent land uses and land covers
within a watershed using the downloaded digital
orthophotographic data
- Assessing the water quality impacts of the inventoried
features
- Ranking subwatersheds based on the cumulative
impacts in the subwatersheds
- Targeting those subwatersheds and individual land
use activities where further actions would have the
maximum positive results
- Approach land owners in the targeted subwatershed
areas as potential cooperators in future remediation
and preservation activities
This may sound daunting for a rural county or rural watershed study group; but, it can actually be easily done, except for the last step, from the convenience of your home PC. All that is needed is access to the Internet and some inexpensive GIS software.
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