Meeting Minutes – TWG Meeting January 25, 2005
IDWR Office – Boise, ID

 

In Attendance –

Al Rea, USGS
Leigh Bailey, Payette National Forest
Gary Young, Bureau of Reclamation – Burley Office
Christa Braun, BLM – Idaho State Office, Boise
Linda Davis, IDWR
Sandra Thiel, IDWR
Genna Ashley, IDWR

Via Phone Conference –

No Attendees

The meeting began at approximately 10:15 a.m.

NEWS TO REPORT

Al Rea explained the USGS 4th field boundary project to the group.  The goal of this project is to discriminate between the perennial and intermittent streams for the entire state.  This process will involve taking all the 1:24k streams from the NHD layer, and “burning them in” the DEM’s, based on 8-digit huc boundaries.  This is the reason they need a good, accurate 4th field boundary – so it will match as accurately as possible. 

Several comments regarding the USGS 4th field boundary project were received from a variety of sources, in either shapefile or .jpg format, and the TWG will review these suggested changes during the 1/25/05 meeting.

 

4th FIELD HUC REVIEW

Lines received from Gary Young, USBR – The group reviewed the comments submitted by Gary Young (in shapefile format).  Some of the larger proposed changes were reviewed as follows:

             The boundary between the Upper Henry’s and Beaver-Camas hucs was changed to include the West Dry Creek stream with the Beaver-Camas huc, and another un-named tributary that was draining to the west was put in with the Upper Henry’s huc.

A portion of the northern boundary between the Upper Henry’s and Lower Henry’s hucs was re-drawn from Davis butte to another un-named ridge to the southwest to more accurately reflect the topographical features of the terrain.

 A portion of the boundary between the Blackfoot and American Falls hucs (southwest of Blackfoot) was re-drawn to more accurately reflect the topographical features of the terrain.

 A portion of the boundary on the Blackfoot huc (where the Blackfoot, Portneuf, and Bear Lake hucs join), southwest of the Blackfoot River,  was re-drawn to more accurately reflect the topographical features of the terrain.

 The northern portion of the 4th field boundary between the Salmon Falls and Upper Snake-Rock huc will be moved east to more accurately reflect the topographical features of the terrain.  This line will be sent to Erv Cowley, BLM for collaboration, because Erv has done extensive work on the Salmon Falls huc.  Gary Young re-delineated this line and is confident of this change, stating that is was very difficult to tell which way the drainage was going near the town of Rogerson, and either set of linework (Erv's or Gary's) would work in that area. Once past the town of Rogerson, the ridgelines are easier to follow.   

             The portion of line between the Goose Creek and Upper Snake Rock hucs that previously included Big Cottonwood Creek has been moved to put this drainage in with the Upper Snake Rock huc.  Gary Young noted this change, and Valdon Hancock, with the Sawtooth National Forest, had already completed the linework.  This line will be incorporated into the USGS 4th field boundaries, as well as the draft master watershed coverage.

 There were several additional smaller changes identified by Gary Young.   These boundary changes will be reviewed and incorporated where necessary into the USGS 4th fields, and eventually added into the draft master watershed coverage.

Lines and .jpg files received from Sue White, Clearwater National Forest:  The group reviewed these changes, and the following recommendations were made:

            The line at the southern end of the Clearwater huc (Winchester.jpg) was redrawn to more accurately reflect the topographical features of the terrain.

             The 4th field boundary between the Clearwater, South Fork Clearwater, and Middle Fork Clearwater hucs, in the South Fork Clearwater huc, at the Clearwater/South Fork Clearwater river confluence was redrawn to exclude a small stream west of the confluence, and also to include the multiple outlet point.

             There were several additional smaller changes identified by Sue White.  These boundary changes will be reviewed and incorporated where necessary into the USGS 4th fields, and eventually added into the draft master watershed coverage.

Lines received from Genna Ashley-Poulson, IDWR:  The group reviewed these changes, and the following recommendations were made:

             The digitized line at the southern portion of the Clearwater huc will be incorporated.

             The concept lines from BLM were digitized by IDWR and made 24k compliant.  There was a question regarding Seaman's Creek.  From the DRG's, it appears that this stream may also be part of the Little Wood hydrologic unit.  Genna Ashley will send this linework and question to Erv Cowley for collaboration. Study of 1980 or earlier aerial photos may show the natural channels prior to development activities.

             A portion of the Big Wood huc, just above Thorn Creek Reservoir was redrawn to more accurately reflect the topographical features of the terrain.  Some of the lines were taken from USGS, IDWR, and some were new lines. 

Lines from Nez Perce National Forest:  Prior to the TWG meeting, Al Rea visited with Nick Gerhardt via phone and Tim McDonald sent some linework to Al.  USGS will take a look at this linework and incorporated any updates/changes where necessary.

Oregon/Washington REO data:  The USGS has taken the 4th field boundary lines on the Oregon and Washington portions of the state in areas where Idaho does not have 24k linework and incorporated these lines into their project.  If more accurate linework is received by REO in the future, these lines will be replaced, where applicable.

**Note – all major changes that were reviewed during this meeting were digitized using the shapefile “TWG_Meeting_Lines_012505.shp”, and this file will be sent to Al Rea for reference.

Idaho Panhandle NF Final Review:  Due to time limitations, this review was tabled until the next watershed meeting on February 23.

Lower Snake-Asotin Review:  Due to time limitations, this review was tabled until the next watershed meeting on February 23.  Leigh Bailey took the hard copy of the map, and will coordinate with Katy Clifton at the Umatilla National Forest for review.  Genna Ashley will send Leigh a shapefile of this huc, which is the Oregon/Washington REO data to work from. 

Middle Snake-Payette:  Due to time limitations, this review was tabled until the next watershed meeting on February 23. 

 MISCELLANEOUS DISCUSSION

Al Rea stated that USGS has linework for the entire state now.  He would like to send out a second version of this linework – “Version 1”.  This set of linework would not include any of the changes previously identified, but it would have the entire state completed, where the previous version was missing areas.  The group decided to send out another notice asking people to check again and see if their area of interest has been included, (making sure to note that no prior changes have been incorporated yet), and provide any additional comments.  The review period for “Version 1” would be approximately 2 weeks.  After any additional comments have been received, reviewed, and incorporated by USGS, a second “Version 2” would be sent our with all changes and revisions for a final review.  The review period for “Version 2” would also be approximately 2 weeks.

 ACTION ITEMS:

Genna Ashley will send Al Rea the shapefile that the TWG group worked with during the review.

Genna Ashley will send Erv Cowley the linework and comments from Gary Young, USBR so he can review the proposed changes for the Salmon Falls.  Genna will also send Erv the linework she completed for the Big Wood hydrologic units, along with the question regarding Seaman’s Creek.

Leigh Bailey will work with Katy Clifton in the Umatilla National Forest on the Lower Snake-Asotin huc and bring the changes back for a review.  Genna Ashley will send Leigh Bailey the shapefile for this huc that was downloaded from the Oregon/Washington REO site.

Al Rea will continue to work on the 4th field boundaries and incorporate all pertinent changes into the dataset.  A second “Version 1” will be send to all cooperators asking them to check any areas that may have been missing from the first set of linework. 

 NEXT SCHEDULED TWG MEETING (S):

 February:  Wednesday, February 23rd – IDWR Offices, 322 W. Front Street, Boise, ID

 March:  Wednesday, March 9th – IDWR Offices, 322 W. Front Street, Boise, ID

 For directions and/or NetMeeting connections, please contact Genna Ashley at (208) 287-4880 genna.ashley@idwr.idaho.gov

 ***Subject to change before meeting***

  The meeting concluded at approximately 4:30 p.m.