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Spatial Hydro-Ecological Decision System (SHEDS)

Seamlessly linking datasets, models, and decision-support systems, this website offers a suite of tools designed to help resource managers make decisions related to protecting freshwater aquatic habitat, including a stream temperature database, a visualization for identifying priority catchments, and an interactive GIS map featuring data on Eastern brook trout.

Go to the Product(s)

The following tools all live on the Spatial Hydro-Ecological Decision System website:

  • Interactive Catchment Explorer visualization tool for catchment characteristics and model predictions
  • Stream Temperature Database of regional stream temperature data contributed by state agencies and organizations
  • Stream Temperature Model predicting daily stream temperature based on catchment characteristics and weather conditions
  • High Resolution Catchment Delineation GIS layers representing hydrologic catchments and flowlines spanning the Northeast region of the United States
  • Northeast Brook Trout Occupancy Model looking at the effects of landscape, land-use, and climate variables on the probability of Brook Trout occupancy in stream reaches 

Additional Resources

SHEDS Database Documentation 

Technical description

The objective of this effort was to develop tools to assist managers in protecting and restoring streams for brook trout and other aquatic resources in the face of threats such as climate change and development. The project included developing stream temperature, stream flow, and brook trout occurrence models for headwaters of the Northeast, including projections of the potential effects of climate change. The investigators worked closely with decision makers such as state water resource agencies to ensure the tools are useful. 

Project components:

1. Hierarchical modeling framework to account for multiple scales and sources of uncertainty in climate change predictions, and to forecast local (catchment scale) population persistence of brook trout.

2. Statistical models to predict stream flow and temperature based on air temperature and precipitation as a function of local environmental conditions.

3. Incorporation of climate change forecasts into population persistence models using ‘envelope’ of downscaled global circulation data on precipitation and air temperature.

Case Studies and News Stories

"Search Party: In Maine, Partners Find Common Ground in Cold Water" - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Open Spaces blog

Project Contact(s):

, Research Ecologist, U.S. Geological Survey

LCC Staff Contact(s):

, Science Coordinator
PROJECT PAGE:
Product Type(s):
Foundation Information
Maps, Spatial Datasets, and Databases
Assessments and Research Results
Reports, Model-Based Assessments
Decision Support Tools
Interactive tools and models
Resource Type: Fish
Conservation Targets: Freshwater aquatic
Conservation Framework: Assumption-based Research
Threats/Stressors: Climate change impacts, Development/Urban Growth, Water quality and supply
Conservation Action: Habitat and natural process restoration, Species management

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