1. Great Lakes Integrated Services: Gathering Information, and Maximizing Data and Web Access
Sean D. Rafferty
Research Director and Associate Director
Pennsylvania Sea Grant College Program
Penn State University
PA LEEF Meeting
April 18, 2016

2. Outline
Pennsylvania Lake Erie Watershed Integrated Water Resources Management (PALE IWRM) Plan
Great Lakes Services Integration Project
Data Acquisition
Bluff Recession Research and Outreach
WALTER
Workshops
Collaborators: Pennsylvania Sea Grant, Regional Science Consortium, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), Erie County Conservation District, Advisory Committee
Funding: DEP Growing Greener, GLRI State Capacity Funding, Pennsylvania Coastal Resources Management Program

3. Pennsylvania Lake Erie Watershed
508 square miles
33 municipalities; 2 counties
56 streams; 1,121 miles
40% forest cover
31% agricultural
12% developed
5% wetland
5% impervious cover

4. PALE IWRM Plan: Goals
Land use decisions, nutrient inputs, natural resource use and disturbance, chemical and biological contaminants, and non-native invasive species all pose a threat to the 508-square mile Pennsylvania Lake Erie watershed.
Integrated Water Resource Management:
method for understanding, identifying, and prioritizing actions to restore and protect watersheds
serves as a tool for putting an array of information from different disciplines together with the goal of making existing water planning, management, and decision-making more rationale and efficient.
Goals:
Assist watershed stakeholders in identifying restoration actions, promoting green infrastructure, protecting environmentally sensitive lands, and improving access to and use of water resources in the watershed
Enhance the ability of agency staff to manage water resources in the watershed

5. PALE IWRM Plan: Content
The PALE IWRM Plan summarizes and provides data to support informed decision-making regarding the management of water resources and guides users to the areas in the watershed where restoration, conservation, and/or monitoring projects are needed.
summarizes existing regulatory, management, and monitoring programs;
summarizes existing watershed plans;
inventories available data related to natural resources, coastal development, permitted facilities and discharges, ecological systems, recreation and public access opportunities, water use, and real-time data;
prioritizes restoration and conservation locations; and
provides a series of maps and tables that highlight the data that was collected.
Integrating this information offers a clearer picture of what we know and can be used to make more informed choices and decisions regarding the management of water resources within the Pennsylvania Lake Erie watershed.

6. GL Services: Data Acquisition
Past Data Acquisition
Orthoimagery (2012): 6-inch resolution
LiDAR (2012): 1-meter density
Impervious cover (2012)
Current Data Acquisition
Orthoimagery (2015): 6-inch resolution
LiDAR (2015): 0.7-meter density
Hydrology (2016)
Watershed boundaries (2016)
Bluff crest line delineation (2016)

7. GL Services: Orthoimagery (1-meter)

8. GL Services: Orthoimagery (6-inch)

9. GL Services: Impervious Cover

10. GL Services: Bluff Recession Research and Outreach
State of Knowledge Report
review the current understanding of coastal-change processes;
incorporate an annotated bibliography covering grey, peer-reviewed, and other literature on coastal-bluff change, management, and policy on the Lake Erie coast
Bluff Recession Analysis
Bluff crest lines derived from LiDAR
Compare recent rates of recession (2012 to 2015)
Rates by watershed and municipality
Bluff Erosion Potential Index (BEPI)
Tool for assessing erosion potential (high, medium, low)
Based on factors contributing to bluff erosion (e.g. recession rates, vegetation, etc.)
Bluff Guide
BEPI
State of Knowledge
Provide management guidance

11. GL Services: WALTER
Presque Isle Bay Public Advisory Committee (PIB PAC) identified the need for transparency and easy access to Great Lakes related information, including:
management guidance
research studies and results
watershed plans
restoration and protection project data
geospatial data
The PIB PAC suggested a “one stop web-based shop” as a means for accessing and integrating Great Lakes related information, data, services, and guidance.

12. GL Services: Workshops
Spring 2018: WALTER Training Workshop at TREC
Summer 2018: Host a Bluff Analysis Workshop at TREC