Mitasova*, Helena¹, Lubos Mitas², William M. Brown¹, Brendan Belby¹ .
¹Geographic Modeling Systems Laboratory, Department of Geography, 220 Davenport Hall, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA; and ² National Center for Supercomputing Applications, 405 N. Mathews Ave, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA

Increasing pressures on land have triggered profound changes in land management approaches, with the leading role in conservation efforts shifting from government to local communities. To ensure the success of these efforts the watershed associations need adequate data and knowledge about  the impacts of local changes implemented by land owners on the the entire system. We propose a methodology for watershed characterization and process modeling at multiple scales and levels of complexity supporting community-based watershed planning and effective implementation of conservation measures. The methodology is based on raster representation and modeling at mutiple resolutions. Simple, approximate models which can be implemeted on-line and which require little expertise are derived as special cases of more complex models, allowing thus to better understand their limitations. More complex simulations  are based on process based hydrologic and sediment transport models and are aimed at providing better understanding of the interactions within the watershed and evaluation of impacts of changes proposed by the landowners. The simulations are used to evaluate and design effective conservation strategies by, for example,  finding locations with good topographic conditions for wetlands, evaluating impact of existing and simulated channels on surface water depth distribution  and by simulating effectivenes of various spatial patterns of conservation areas, ripariand buffers and filter strips. The simulations can be performed at spatially variable resolutions allowing us to study the impacts of local prevention measures modeled at high resolution (2m) on the entire watershed modeled at lower resolutions (10-30m).
We demonstrate the methodology on a Court Creek Pilot Watershed in Illinois selected by Illinois Department of Natural Resources as a demonstration area for new, community and science based approache to watershed management.

 217-333-4735, fax:217-244-1785, email: helena@gis.uiuc.edu