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Using Survey123 to Map Physical Habitat Characteristics, Watershed Activities, and Disturbances

Author(s): Lucas Ward

Rocky Mountain College

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Summary:
In this lesson, students are introduced to the idea and practice of “remote sensing” and provided with hands-on, field-based experience using standardized stream habitat assessment protocols (the National Rivers and Streams Assessment [NRSA]),…

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In this lesson, students are introduced to the idea and practice of “remote sensing” and provided with hands-on, field-based experience using standardized stream habitat assessment protocols (the National Rivers and Streams Assessment [NRSA]), publically available spatial data, and GPS/GIS technology and workflows to develop multi-scale scale profiles of the physical habitat characteristics of a small portion a selected watershed (the exercise can be adapted to focus on any watershed for which high resolution air photos are available). Students will work individually or as a team (e.g. in pairs) to use a Survey123 App adapted from the NRSA protocol for assessing the habitat and physical characteristics – particularly those that have been influenced by human activity – of the riparian area of a stream or river. This lesson requires the instructor to have access to an ArcGIS Online (AGOL) Creator or Editor account and for students to have access to mobile devices with the Survey123 App installed (which will require students to have an AGOL account). A Survey123 App designed for this lesson that can be adapted to suit the instructor’s needs is included in xml format.