Attachment_2_Reference_Materials.pdf

2015 NRI Local Data Training

888-844-9904 9840937

Please link your phone. A code to link your phone should be available under the “Audio” menu

Recorded trainings, PowerPoint, and additional resources can be downloaded from the Iowa State CyBox site: https://iastate.box.com/s/phsxy4wr1bg7xoi0n6j69a6dn6g3rbn9

Process and Training:

2015 NRI Sample

• Entire sample = 72,529 segments

• Projected local data segments = 38,951

• Segments are sent to local data if one at least one point is initially photo-interpreted by the Remote Sensing Lab as:

–Grassland –Cropland –Hayland

–CRP

2015 Sample

•Core Segments – included in the sample every year –2015 Core

• New data will be collected for 2015

• Review and edit as needed land use data, irrigation data for 2011-2014

• Review and edit as needed conservation practices, drainage information and RUSLE2 data for 2014

2015 Sample

• Revisited Rotation Segments

– Most of the rotation segments will have been last visited in 2008 or later

– Few segments have been last visited in 2001

– Data collection

• New data will be collected for 2015

– Land use and irrigation will also collect new data for the 3 prior years (or until the review year)

• Review and edit as needed land use data, irrigation data for the last data collection year and 3 prior years

• Review and edit as needed conservation practices, drainage information and RUSLE2 data for the last data collection year

• New Rotation Segment

– Last visited in 1997

– New data will be collected for 2015

• Land use and irrigation will also be collected for the 3 prior years

Who should collect this data?

• Employees who have a knowledge of:

–Accessing local records (NRCS and FSA) –Local agricultural practices, crops and associated conservation practices –Erosion prediction equations (RUSLE2 and WEQ)

Timelines

• 99.9% of projected local data segments are currently ready for local data collection

• RSLs are continuing data collection of non-local segments –Additional local segments could be identified during this period

• LDSI data collection window –September 12, 2016 – January 31, 2017

•This includes SRIC review

WebStats https://www.nrisurvey.org/webStats/2015/

• Only create an account if you do not already have one

• If you have an account and need your username, first contact your SRIC – SRICs can search the past approved users for usernames – email combinations

• Use the Forgot Password if you’ve forgotten your password

• You must have been approved to gain access – users approved in the past will have PENDING requests for 2015 until the SRIC grants them permission

If you received a message saying you don’t have access, but the account manager states that access has been requested, your manager needs to approve you

SRICs are required to “Manage” application Users

Use to select segments

Links to location maps and photo’s, segment notes section, and other points in the segment.

Opens new window with location map and photo’s from each survey year.

MrSid Images can also be downloaded.

IF YOU CHANGE THE CLU YEAR, YOU

MUST REQUERY THE FSA-578 DATA!

Accessing NRI Data View

• NRI Data View can be used to view the entire history of the segment

• NRI Data View also contains the coordinates of the point locations, which can be useful in Google

Earth Pro (available for NRCS employees)

• https://www.nrisurvey.org/dataView/

Notes

•Notes are required if the LDSI data collector does not agree with the initial RSL determination for land classification OR if the LDSI data collector disagrees with the previous determination

•Notes are also useful to communicate between the RSL and the LDSI data collectors and vice versa

Review notes before collecting data!

When a section has been completed, it will automatically close and proceed to the next section.

Data collector can go back and edit previously collected sections by clicking on the + tab.

If data collector disagrees with RSL determination, LEAVE A

SEGMENT NOTE!

Continuous CRP and Conservation Practices

• A point enrolled in continuous CRP is NOT coded as CRP. Instead record the appropriate NRI LCU for the point. Keep in mind that the NRI definitions for grassland and forestland include a minimum width AND area (100’, 1 acre). If a grassed or treed continuous CRP CLU does not meet this threshold, record the NRI LCU of the field the point is treating.

• Same goes for conservation practices!

Glossary of Key Terms

• Grassland. An area that has at least 50% aerial coverage of grasses, grass-like plants and or forbs.

When viewed from a vertical direction there must be less than 30% canopy cover of woody plants that grow to a height of less than 4 meters at maturity and less than 25 % canopy cover of leaves and branches of trees that grow to a height of 4 meters or taller at maturity. The total area coverage of shrubs and trees must be less than 50 %. The minimum area for classification of grassland is 1 acre, and the area must be at least 100 feet wide.[NRI-2005]

Glossary of Key Terms

•Grassland, defined as Rangeland. A land cover/use category on which the vegetation is predominately grasses, grass-like plants, and or forbs and defined as rangeland. Includes lands revegetated naturally or artificially when routine management of that vegetation is accomplished mainly through manipulation of grazing. [NRI-2005]

Glossary of Key Terms

• Grassland, not defined as Rangeland. A land cover/use category on which the vegetation is dominated by grasses, grass-like plants, and or forbs not defined as rangeland used primarily for the production of introduced or domesticated native forage plants for livestock grazing, erosion control, wildlife habitat or recreation areas. Cultural practices may include periodic tillage, fertilization, mowing weed control and irrigation. This category does not include intensely managed turfgrass areas around home and businesses. [NRI-2005]

From alfalfa to zucchini, this link will open a list of crops to choose from.

Both need to be answered

From the Instructions:

• Double cropping. The farming practice where more than one crop is grown for harvest in the same year on the same land. Double cropping requires that a second crop is planted and harvested the same calendar year. Usually the succeeding crop is planted at or near harvest time of the earlier crop. This includes the growing of grain or row crops under or between orchard or vineyard rows. [NRI–97]

FSA data will list the CRP Practice and Expiration. Use the table to the right (also in the instructions) to deduce the sign-up number

Irrigation information is required for each survey and review year.

Checking ‘yes’ to irrigation prompts a request for irrigation type, water source, and delivery system.

Historical data can be edited.

The Standard Practice Codes are for conservation practices that impact the point, such as reducing the slope length where the point lies. These are documented practices that meet NRCS standards.

The list of practices is primarily for those that can be recognized from a photograph.

Contour has been removed from Strip Cropping

RUSLE2

• Complete for CRP, Crop / Hayland, and Grassland land types.

• Many RUSLE2 systems have been added for all CMZ’s

• Select or ‘build’ a system that best matches land use history and NRCS conservation plan

• “No RUSLE2 system available” is not an option!

When you click ‘Select Management’, a box will open prompting the management sequence.

You will definitely want to use the filters!! There are a lot of systems with corn in CMZ 16!

There are 10 choices for grain corn in a two-year rotation with no tillage.

Hover your cursor over the rotation and the dates and descriptions of the farming operations are displayed.

To select the rotation, click in the check box.

If there has been no change to the rotation, click ‘No’ for subsequent years and the information automatically carries forward.

Instructions!

Edit historical information if needed.

Since ‘393 Filter Strip’ was selected as a standard practice, use the drop down to identify the type of filter strip.

The type of support practice will impact the estimated soil loss.

RUSLE2 Support Practices

• Should agree with the Standard Practices – but not always

• Provides more specific information on the type of practice

• Can be used even if there are no ‘Standard Practices’ selected.

• Directly impacts soil loss estimation.

Record subsurface drainage information in this section.

• WEQ is not required for every point

• The Critical Wind Erosion Period is described as the period of the year when the greatest amount of wind erosion can be expected to occur from a field under an identified management system. It is the period when vegetative cover, soil surface conditions, and expected erosive winds result in the greatest potential for wind erosion.

• Erosion estimates developed using the critical period procedure are made using a single set of factor values (IKCL & V) in the equation to describe the critical wind erosion period conditions.

…. mark the segment as complete which will send it to SRIC review.

To revert a completed segment back to local data collection, you will need to contact ldsi-support@iastate.edu

Getting Help

•Reference Materials •Local Data Collectors will elevate questions to SRICs •SRICs will use 1 of 2 email aliases to elevate questions

– For issues with the software, use nri-it-support@iastate.edu

– For protocol questions, clarifications, unlocks, and RUSLE2 management additions, use ldsi-support@iastate.edu

Data Validation and Verification Review Process and Training:

Recorded trainings, PowerPoint, and additional resources can be downloaded from the Iowa State CyBox site: https://iastate.box.com/s/phsxy4wr1bg7xoi0n6j69a6dn6g3rbn9

The SRIC review occurs after the local data collection is complete and serves as the final quality assurance before segments go back to the Remote Sensing Labs (RSLs). This is a critical step that insures the quality of our locally collected data.

The SRIC review is performed through a stand-alone web based application called “SRIC review”. This gives the SRIC the opportunity to review data from local data collectors. The application aggregates the data and provides data summary reports so the SRIC can identify anomalies. It also allows the SRIC to go back into LSDI application in the SRIC review mode, review the data, and make edits in the local data survey instrument. The SRIC application can be accessed using the URL listed above (the URL will change with each new survey year).

SRIC review is only one of the components of QA of the local data. QA occurs at a couple different levels and should first occur as local data is input at the local level. The LDSI application is built to minimize erroneous data entry through the use of customized choice lists, prior answers to narrow choices, and warning messages if local data collector answers differ from RSL.

Use of the web based SRIC review system – the SRIC is asked to identify any discrepancies and work with local data collectors to resolve those discrepancies. It’s important to communicate with local data collectors to verify and justify these discrepancies as some issues are systemic and may take more work and time to correct.

After local data is approved through the SRIC review, the data then goes back to the RSL. The RSL reviews the data and integrates it with the other data elements collected at the RSL.

Once local data completed by local data collector, the data points will move to “awaiting approval status” in the SRIC review application will also appear in the “SRIC” column in WebStats. As the SRIC, you’re required to monitor progress in the WebStats application and can begin the review and approval as needed. In the past, it’s been recommended that the SRIC wait to begin the review until the LSDI is 100% complete for a given county. The main benefit to this is that the data summaries are more complete so that the SRIC gets a better overall picture of the data. The SRIC may want to monitor newer data collectors as they begin to make sure they’re getting the data entry right and can cut off any problems before they build upon themselves.

The SRIC will review the raw data and the data summaries, and should also review the data in the LDSI on a point by point basis. Any problems identified should be resolved with the local data collectors. The SRIC can make changes in the LSDI or they can send the local data segments back to the local data collector to make the corrections. Once all problems are corrected, the SRIC then approves segments in the SRIC application.

What’s new? With the process or application, there is nothing new and there are no changes. The only local data collection change is that the word “contour” was removed from the strip cropping under standard conservation practices. No longer require contour for strip cropping to be considered a conservation practice.

The SRIC review is accessed using your NRI account. There’s no avenue to request access to the SRIC review in the account manager as the review is still a manual process - all SRIC’s have access to the SRIC review. Some states have requested additional people as reviewers - contact Jesse Turk (turk@iastate.edu) and he can add additional people to the system. After logging in, you’ll be assigned to one state, default to opening to the “view counties” tab. The interface is fairly straightforward. The number awaiting approval will increase and provides another way to track progress. You can filter what you see as to what counties appear (left hand menu) – approved, awaiting approval, incomplete etc.

Most focus on the awaiting approval category.

You can also click directly on the county, which will then open up the view approve segments tab for that county. This is where you approve segments - this signals that data has been collected and appears to be correct. You want to be sure review the data, both in the summary reports AND in the LDSI application, before you approve. If the local data collector did not have a good grasp on the data entry, you can revert segments or an entire county back to the local data phase to allow local data collector to make corrections. Segment IDs are hyperlinked – clicking will add those segments to a quick open list in the LDSI so that you can then open those segments efficiently in the LDSI application.

The data summaries are where you’ll spend most of your time and effort in reviewing the data. Viewing the data summaries tab will show a summary of data collected for the county. There is a list of raw data tables for review – CRP, land cover use, double cropping, irrigation, segments notes, etc. Ensure data collectors are leaving appropriate segment notes as well.

Most reports include a summary and a listing review. For example, double cropping will summarize the double cropping that’s been entered for a county and the number of points grouped by primary and secondary crop in a given year. The listing view will list each individual point and what the data looks like. Similar for all summary reports – aggregated summary for the whole county with a list of individual points. Intended to help you identify problems – i.e. cotton entered in Wisconsin would be an anomaly.

Use your best judgement as to what does and does not look right based on your local knowledge. What are the major practices in your counties?

CRP summary – will list CRP points in the county. The keys to look for unusual practices or sign up numbers that are outside the range of the years as coded. Hovering over the codes will give you access to the metadata as to what the codes mean.

Land cover and use – LCU codes collected by the local data collector. The summary shows all LCU codes collected by survey year in each county and the number of points for each. Any point where there is a conflict between RSL determination and local determination – these always warrant additional investigation. The local data collector is disagreeing with what the RSL determined in their study. Any of those discrepancies require you as the SRIC to determine if that discrepancy is warranted. Review the point in the LSDI application as well as the segment notes associated with that point.

Launching the LDSI and going into the survey instrument – as SRIC reviewer there is an additional box where you can switch the mode to “SRIC review”. This will allow you to review all the segments that have gone through the local data collection. There is a max number of segments that will be listed in the “quick pick” list for those segment IDs that you clicked on in the SRIC application. The last segment you picked will always be listed on the bottom.

Opening up the segment in the LDSI will show the same interface that the local data collector viewed. In this example, where local data collector disagreed with the RSL, they disagreed on crop vs non crop.

(the following slides are a bit out of order in the training).

Reviewing the segment notes, point 2 was identified as a true change to forest.

Open up the images and the CLU, and you can see where the confusion is as the point lies in the trees, but the CLU is coded for the adjacent cropland. The SRIC should correct it back to the RSL determination. For the SRIC review, ensure you look for anomalies and land cover codes that are uncharacteristic for your county, making sure to look at conflict points to determine if conflict with the RSL is warranted.

Double cropping – this report shows the double cropped combinations and applicable years, summary, and the listing for each individual segment listed from highest frequency to lowest. Ensure that these make sense for the typical conditions in each county.

Irrigation – check the type, source, and delivery for irrigation for each county and ask if they make sense for the typical local conditions. Hovering over labels will give you the metadata for each code, and explains what they are. If it does not make sense, the point must be investigated by reviewing the imagery and CLU in the LSDI application.

Standard Practice Codes – these are standard conservation practices. The reports that are given show the changes in standard practice codes, either an increase or decrease in a practice. Is that change warranted? It will also summarize and list practices by year.

RUSLE2 Management – the reports that are provided list any changes in the RUSLE system. Overview of all the systems used are also provided. In the systems used, the report will show how the local data collector built their management system rotation. Under the listing of systems by point and by year, it will identify the actual rotation that was built. If it was a two year system that they selected when building it, you’ll see the two year listed as the system. Focus mostly on systems that doesn’t look right for the county, but look more closely at the systems by point to see if there’s anything that appears out of place. Key things to note – single year systems. Are they truly single year systems like continuous corn or continuous soybeans? Some data collectors incorrectly enter in a single year system instead of building a rotation for a two year corn-soybean system. This messes with the erosion estimates and should be avoided. The key is to verify the single year and odd looking systems.

Example – continuous tobacco? This appears to be an anomaly.

One the point is opened in the LDSI, it’s noted that land type and cropping history is hayland in 2015 and 2014 is tobacco/wheat/corn rotation. RUSLE management is calculating as continuous tobacco, but really the local data collector should be building a rotational management sequence that includes tobacco instead of noting a single year crop. As a result of the incorrect data entry, large amounts of erosion as being miscalculated for this point. Something to be aware of with the SRIC review – note the single year systems, ask if they’re valid since they can really wreak havoc on the erosion calculations and RUSLE estimates.

RUSLE2 Support Practices – the report notes changes in support practices by year. Looking at the summary by year, something that seems odd in this example is the change in filter strip in the standard practice code. Is the removal of the filter strip warranted based on what you see in the photo in the LDSI application? Keys here are to verify any real change in support practices and investigate any unexpected differences between the RUSLE2 support practice and the technical guide practices.

WEQ V and K Factors – reference the local guidance for V and K factors by typical crop and tillage systems for your state. Summary reports show K and V factors paired by years. The key here is to look for unusual V and K factors by crop combination. Going back to the RUSLE2 crop rotations may be helpful, so if something looks odd, look at the management to see if it can justify the numbers.

Notes – RSL notes will not be listed in the summary, only the notes entered by the local data collectors.

It does not represent the complete note picture, but it’s still important to review these to ensure they’re descriptive and clearly justify any changes. Look for unusual notes for the current survey year.

Once the review is complete, return to the approval page and approve all the segments that have met the quality assurance review criteria. Once approved, the points will then return to the RSL where the local data will be integrated with additional survey data.

Although the summary reports provide the SRIC will a tool for broad data review to identify anomalies, it does not replace opening each segment in the LDSI application for a more thorough review. As the contracted SRIC, you are required to open each segment in the LDSI, review the photo imagery, confirm the cropping history through the FSA data, and ensure the data entry seems reasonable and follows local guidance for all entered survey elements. Communicate with your local data collectors and the NRCS NRI point of contact to address any concerns and ensure you are clear on all parts of the SRIC review process.

If you have additional questions about data entry or about the LDSI or SRIC web based applications that the local NRI POC cannot address, contact ldsi-support@iastate.edu for technical support.

ATTACHMENT 003

2015 National Resources Inventory LDSI Links

Training LSDI (for practice):

https://www.nrisurvey.org/training_ldsi/

Production LDSI (for data entry):

https://www.nrisurvey.org/ldsi/

Instructions for Requesting Access to NRI Applications Note: You must have an NRI Account before you can request access to NRI Applications. If you do not have an NRI Account, please navigate to https://www.nrisurvey.org/accountManager/ and follow the instructions to Create an NRI Account before proceeding.

1. Open your internet browser and navigate to https://www.nrisurvey.org/accountManager/.

2. Enter your NRI Account username and password on the Log In page and click the Log In button.

3. Click on the link to Request Application Access.

4. The resulting page will show a list of the available applications that utilize the NRI Account system. To request access to an application, find the name of the desired application on the left side of the screen. In the dropdown to the right of the desired application, select the location in which you work and then click on the Request Access button directly to the right.

Note: if you have already requested access to a given application, the option may bedisabled and have a note next to it such as (requested already).

5. Once your request has been made, you will receive the confirmation page below. At this point, you still do not have access to the requested application.

6. A manager will receive your request to access the application. Once the manager approves your request, you will receive a confirmation email similar to the one below. Once you receive the approval email, you will be able to log in to the requested application using your NRI Account. Note: you will also receive an email if the manager denies your request. The most common cause of this is that you inadvertently requested access to the wrong application or from the wrong location. If this occurs, you will need to submit a new request with the appropriate selections.

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