Waterfalls and Rapids in the Conterminous United States Linked to the National Hydrography Datasets V2.0

Publication Date

2020-07-10

Start Date

2014

End Date

2020-03

Wieferich, D.J., Daniel, W.M., Procopio, J.M., and Morningstar, C.R., 2020, Waterfalls and Rapids in the Conterminous United States Linked to the National Hydrography Datasets V2.0: Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9QQTKA0.

Type: Web Link

Knowing where falls occur in the stream network can help researchers better understand and model aquatic species distributions and species migration patterns. This dataset is intended to support national scale species distribution modeling efforts by documenting potential natural barriers to aquatic species' passage. More specifically, the locations are addressed to commonly used hydrography datasets to help facilitate linear network analyses. A full gradation of falls (rapids to sheer drops) were included to help document potential falls that may impede movement of any or all species. We hope to work with partners to continually improve upon and validate records within this dataset (both spatial and tabular information) and to further build understanding of falls and species movements affected by them. Examples of improvements could include field verifications of locations and characteristics, or use of algorithms to generate waterfall height estimates for the entire dataset. We recommend that users link value-added attributes to feature ids from this dataset to help facilitate improvements of the dataset through time. Please contact metadata contacts to further discuss ways to contribute.

• National Fish Habitat Partnership
• National Hydrography Dataset Linked Data Registry
• USGS Data Release Products