A Concept for a Hydrologic Observatory in the South Platte River Basin
 (2/04)

The intersection between: (1) the Rocky Mountains and developments occurring in high altitude fragile environments; (2) the metropolitan areas emerging at the interface of the mountains and the plains; (3) the irrigation occurring along rivers as they break from the mountains and snake a cross the Great Plains; and (4) the grasslands and the dryland farming that covers the vast amount of the Great Plains, represents a dynamic, complex, highly integrated ecosystem, stretching from Montana and North Dakota to New Mexico and Texas.  This swath of land, and the rivers that cross it (headwaters of the  Missouri , the Yellowstone, the  North Platte , the South Platte, the  Arkansas , the Cimarron, the Red and the  Pecos Rivers ), represent a significant percentage of the landmass of the United States .  Within this large area, besides tremendous increases in population in metropolitan areas, there are new energy developments, old hard rock mining concerns, new recreation developments, irrigation farms selling water to meet urban demands, new in-stream flow programs, struggling rural areas, and continued "mining" of ground water.  The corresponding impacts are creating endangered and threatened species conflicts which require new knowledge to fully understand the measures needed to mitigate harmful ecosystem conditions.

Within the Rocky Mountain/Great Plains interface, water is limiting and land is plentiful, presenting natural resource managers with a number of unique problems which demand a scale of integrated science not achieved in the past.   For example, water is imported into a number of the streams flowing east from the  Rocky Mountains, complicating the natural systems, on both sides of the continental divide.  Nitrogen is deposited in pristine watersheds that rise up high in the  Rocky Mountains.  Cities capture spring runoff in reservoirs to use at a steady rate over the entire year, putting water into river systems normally moving low flows in the winter.  Irrigation of both urban landscapes and farm fields may be at a scale that impacts climate patterns in the region.  Government programs, to help manage natural resources in the region, have fractured jurisdiction over the area, as illustrated by a series of agency maps on the website: http://greatplains.cesu.unl.edu/map_links.htm. 

While there is a north/south gradient across the Rocky Mountain/Great Plains interface, there are also many commonalities that should assist transferring scientific findings from one river basin to another. 

The purpose of this NSF Hydrologic Observatory proposal is to employ the ‘hydrologic observatory’ concept to study the   South Platte River Basin, as representative of many of the scientific hydrologic issues facing the Rocky Mountain/Great Plains interface watersheds.  In particular, the South Platte Hydrologic Observatory will examine the following: 

§         Linkage of Biogeochemical and Hydrologic Cycles

§         Sustainability of Water Resources

§         Hydrologic Influence on Ecosystem Functions

§         Understanding of Hydrologic Extremes

§         Fate and Transport of Chemical and Biological Contaminants

With a detailed integration of data sets, from a wide array of study efforts, the South Platte Hydrologic Observatory will produce sound science findings to assist natural resource decision making in the region.  In addition, with careful planning and efforts to correlate the South Platte findings with other rivers in the region, the findings will be able to assist decision making from Canada to Mexico  .

1.                  Scaling

2.                  Coupling across interfaces

3.                  Forecasting and Limits to Predictability

The South Platte Hydrologic Observatory will also be incorporated into plans for an upcoming NEON proposal as a means to further enhance the study of scale and coupling across interfaces.  

The South Platte Hydrologic Observatory, and the scientific discussions surrounding its formation and operation, will be annually highlighted at CSU’s Hydrology Days – a highly successful hydrological sciences meeting with a 25-year history. 

The South Platte Hydrologic Observatory will also coordinate its work with the water institutes in  Montana , North and  South Dakota ,  Wyoming ,  Nebraska ,  Kansas ,  Oklahoma ,  New Mexico and  Texas , as part of an effort to extend the knowledge of the Rocky Mountain/Great Plains river system hydrology from  Canada to   Mexico  .  This water institute coordination will be organized under the auspices of the National Institutes for Water Resources.  (Robert Ward is currently Past President of NIWR). 

The USGS Great Plains NAWQA: http://co.water.usgs.gov/nawqa/hpgw/HPGW_home.html

South Platte NAWQA:  http://co.water.usgs.gov/nawqa/splt/

Rocky  Mountain  Cooperative Ecosystem Study Unit:  http://www.forestry.umt.edu/research/cesu/

Great Plains Cooperative Ecosystem Study Unit:  http://greatplains.cesu.unl.edu/

Short Grass Steppe LTER (located in the  South  Platte River Basin ): http://www.lternet.edu/sites/sgs/

Niwot Ridge LTER (located in the   South  Platte River Basin ):  http://www.lternet.edu/sites/nwt/

Frasier  Experimental  Forest (removal of water from the forest for use in the South  Platte  Basin ): http://www.fs.fed.us/rm/fraser/

Loch Vale Watershed Research Project (located in the   South  Platte  Basin  ): http://www.nrel.colostate.edu/projects/lvws/pages/homepage.htm

South Platte Mapping and Analysis Program (models groundwater/surface water exchanges in the lower  South Platte basin): 

Colorado State Government development of DSS for  South Platte Basin :

Tree Ring studies in   South Platte Basin :

Chill Radar

NRCE snow survey data

USGS, State Engineer’s Office, and Denver Water flow data

CWRRI reservoir study results

Wildfire impact data

Salinity data set from the  Arkansas River

Weighing lysimeter data from  Arkansas River