Florida Springs Watershed Dashboard and Prioritization Tool

Springs Watershed (HUC12) Characteristics and Threats

FWC

July 23, 2021

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission with funding from the Fish and Wildlife Foundation of Florida

Click the button below to skip instructions and background data.

Instructions Are An Important Place To Start! Keep Scrolling for instruction cheatsheets and background data information. ** Lots of helpful hints **

Go Directly to Dashboard and Tool

The Florida Springs Watershed Dashboard and Prioritization Tool provides a means to explore characteristics of and threats to springs watersheds (HUC12), and to prioritize springs watersheds for addressing specific conservation and/or management questions.

The Dashboard and Tool includes three web applications, accessed using three tabs at the bottom left.

Springs Watershed Exploratory Dashboard (Initial page and first tab) - Explore characteristics/risks using interactive filters to reveal overall properties of the selected set
Springs Data Dashboard (second tab) - Explore data on springs by magnitude and HUC12
Prioritization Tool (third tab) - Develop a weighted regression model to prioritize HUC12s based on characteristics and risks

Basic Instructions for Dashboard (click on image to enlarge)

Instructions on the left show the basics of exploring characteristics and potential risks using the Springs Watersheds Exploratory Dashboard (first tab). Interactive filters allow users to select sets of HUC12s in combination. Overall properties of selected sets are revealed in charts, the indicator, map and HUC12 list. Sets can also be selected from the map and/or list. Clicking on a HUC12 in the map opens a popup window of watershed information. Exploration informs model design for the Prioritization Tool (see below for instructions).

NOTE: The Springs Data Dashboard (second tab - not shown) also provides filtering capabilities and functions in a similar manner.

Basic Instructions for Prioritization Tool (click on image to enlarge)

The Springs Prioritization Tool (third tab) allows users to set up weighted regression models for rating HUCs according to combinations of characteristics and/or risks. HUCs can be selected in the map, using the filter icon, or using Options - Filter in the data table. (NOTE: The data table opens with 'Filter by map extent' turned on and hides some HUCs. Hit the button (beside options) to turn it off. Total should be 203 features, 0 selected (bottom left of the table). Popup windows provide data on any watershed by clicking on the map. Models can be created, explored, cleared and redesigned for comparison of any number of models.

For more information on Background Data, scroll down to the slideshow below the Dashboard and Tool.

To Open the Dashboard and Tool below, click the expand icon (box/arrow in upper right).

Florida Springs Watershed Dashboard and Prioritization Tool

Background Data

Background data were summarized by Springs Watersheds ( National Hydrography Dataset - NHD - WBD). Characteristics of HUC12 watersheds include land use (natural, agricultural, and urban), the Florida Conservation Blueprint (v 1.3) and protection levels, both current and future. Current risks to watersheds were evaluated using road densities and human impacts, expressed as the Landscape Development Intensity Index. Future risks include predicted development from the Florida 2070 Project, including the Trend model (based on historical patterns) and the Alternative model (based on more ecological principals) and Sea Level Rise (NED 1-meter SLR). Background data and brief descriptions are shown in the slide show below. For further details, see the Technical Report (in progress).

01 / 10

Background Data

Data for the state of Florida were used to develop characteristics, current and future risks to the Springs Watersheds. For the Dashboard and Tool, all are summarized by HUC12. (For clarity, some data are shown here un-summarized).

Florida Springs

The Florida Springs ( Florida Department of Environmental Protection 2016 ) data was used to select HUCs with spring vents. Data are also shown in the Springs Data dashboard some exploration. Also showing full set of HUCs (USGS - NHD).

Land Use

Land Use is based on the Cooperative Land Cover v 3.4 (December 2019). Each of the 240+ land covers was classified to basic land uses: Natural, Freshwater, Agriculture and Urban.

Blueprint v. 1.3

The Florida Conservation Blueprint shows the high and medium (P1 and P2) priorities for conservation in Florida, based on a suite of important ecological characteristics.

Protection and Future Protection

Based on the Florida Natural Areas Inventory (FNAI) data , these data show areas already in protection (FLMA) as well as remaining portions of approved projects in the Florida Forever program (FFBOT).

Current Risks

Roads contribute to many ecological problems, from noise, road kill, pollutants, and increased human encroachment. Road density was derived from the NAVTEC roads data from 2016.

Landscape Development Intensity

FDEP created the LDI as a measure of human impacts based on land use. Each land cover in the CLC is assigned a coefficient from 1-10 relating to the degree of impact; the LDI is an area weighted sum of LDIs in the watershed.

Trend Model

The Florida 2070 Project developed two models of predicted development in Florida. The Trend model uses predicted population and historic patterns of expansion to determine the course of development by 2070.

Alternative Model

The Florida 2070 also produced the Alternative model, but using ecological principles to minimize conservation impacts while accommodating the same predicted population levels for 2070.

Sea Level Rise (1-meter SLR)

Florida's long coastline and low topography increase the threat from sea level rise. The NED model of the extent of 1-meter SLR was used to determine the percent of the watershed impacted.