Texas a & m university at kingsville, texas, in partnership with the city of missoula, missoula valley water quality district, clark fork coalition, the nature conservancy of montana, OAK ridge…

The Department of the Interior Bureau of Reclamation awarded $215,000 under the Applied Science Grants program to develop an interactive web-based tool for efficient wildfire hydrologic simulation. Texas A&M University at Kingsville will partner with various state and federal entities to integrate remotely sensed data into a hydrologic model and equip watershed managers with a user-friendly workflow to quickly post-process variables associated with fire and drought. This will allow for simulated analysis of hydrologic flow and sediment transport across the Clark Fork Basin, a large river network in western Montana and northern Idaho impacted by wildfire. The tool aims to improve understanding of compound hydrologic effects from recurring fire, drought, and climate change on critical water resources in the western U.S. Work will be completed by September 2024.

Texas a & m university at kingsville, texas, in partnership with the city of missoula, missoula valley water quality district, clark fork coalition, the nature conservancy of montana, OAK ridge national laboratory, USGS, and the US army corp of engineers, will develop an intuitive web-based tool for efficient simulation of post-wildfire hydrologic changes by integrating remotely sensed data in a hydrologic model. Understanding the compound hydrologic effects of recurring fire, drought, and climate projections and their immediate and long-term implications on water management has become time-sensitive for communities across the western united states. This project will use the clark fork basin in western montana and northern idaho as a testbed as wildfire is a major disturbance, making IT an ideal study area for this project. This project will equip watershed managers and stakeholders with a user-friendly workflow to quickly post-process variables associated with fire and drought, integrate remotely sensed data into a hydrologic model, simulate and analyze the hydrologic flow and sediment transport across a large river network, and visualize input-output data through an interactive map interface.