Creating a Population of 12‐Digit Headwater Basins within the Albemarle‐Pamlico Estuary System

Abstract

AbstractEcological research within the US Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Research and Development has recently changed its focus to quantifying and mapping ecosystem services provided to humans. Our local research group has been charged to develop a regional assessment of several ecosystem services in the Albemarle‐Pamlico Estuary System (APES). Time, data, and funding constraints precluded explicit modeling of the entire APES, so in Phase 1 of our research plan we chose to model ecosystem services in a random sample of headwater catchments. After observing numerous inconsistencies between the National Hydrography Dataset‐Plus (NHDPlus) stream network and the Virginia/North Carolina Watershed Boundary Dataset 12‐digit HUC coverage, we began by creating modified 12‐digit hydrologic units (HUCs) by aggregating smaller catchments delineated within the NHDPlus. In defining our population of interest (headwater 12‐digit HUCs with perennial, natural, wadeable pour points), we generally excluded HUCs that had multiple pour points, no pour points, or whose pour points were intermittent streams, artificial segments, ditches/canals, or lentic systems (lakes and reservoirs). After taking these actions, 318 HUCs remained and a stratified random sample (Omnerik ecoregions as strata) of 50 HUCs was chosen from this population.