GIS and Remote Sensing Applications for Watershed Planning in the Maumee River Basin, Ohio

The Maumee River watershed is the largest drainage basin that discharges into the Great Lakes. Although the watershed is largely a rural landscape, several major urban-industrial cities, including Fort Wayne and Toledo are located along the river. Many water quality concerns are present, especially nonpoint rural runoff that contributes significant amounts of sediment into the Maumee River. There is an important need to collect, organize and assess the available information on the watershed conditions and to better determine the status of the changes with land uses, crop rotation, and implementation of conservation tillage practices within this watershed. A partnership between the University of Toledo and US Department of Agriculture NRCS lead to several GIS and remote sensing products including annual land cover and crop rotations via remote sensing techniques, establishment of a Maumee Watershed Project Area GIS database, and providing educational and informational outreach with other project partners, resource managers, and the general public.