The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's
River Systems and Meteorology Group

Services to Reclamation Offices and Facilities

Upper Colorado Region:

WaRSMP RiverWare and Hydrologic Data Base applications on the San Juan River and Gunnison Basins to investigate a variety of hydrologic scenarios and examine potential impacts on endangered species and riparian habitat for the Western Colorado Area Office in Grand Junction and Durango. Contacts are John Ozga and John Simon respectively.

Dave King is our team leader in these studies.

WaRSMP support to the Upper Rio Grande Water Operations Model (URGWOM) and the development of the ET Toolbox to estimate consumptive uses of crops and riparian vegetation for river system management in support of the Albuquerque Area Office. Contacts are Steve Hansen, Steven Bowser, Mark Yuska, and Leanne Towne.

xxx and Al Brower are the team leaders in this work.

WaRSMP support to the Upper Colorado River water operations team in Salt Lake City. Contacts are Tom Ryan and Paul Davidson, UC Regional Office.

Don Frevert, TSC; and Terry Fulp, LC are the WaRSMP Program Managers.

Lower Colorado Region

WaRSMP support to the Lower Colorado River Operations team at the Boulder Canyon Operations Office. Contacts are Jayne Harkins and Bruce Williams, BCOO.

Terry Fulp, BCOO and Don Frevert, TSC are the WaRSMP program managers.

Enhanced AWARDS and ET Toolbox support to the Yuma Area Office for quantitative precipitation analysis and forecasting of inflows to the mainstem Colorado River from side-washes, and water balance analysis, consumptive use of crops and vegetation for water conservation. Contacts are Robert Adams, YAO and Paul Matuska, LCRAS Program, BCOO.

Steven Hunter is the Team Leader

GIS Support and Visualization of the Environmental Effects of River Operations on Backwaters in the Lower Colorado River provides support for the Lower Colorado River modeling studies of Kevin Fagot, BCOO. Contact is Jayne Harkins, BCOO.

Jeff Rieker is the team leader supporting work of Kevin Fagot, BCOO.

Mid-Pacific Region

WaRSMP support to the Lahonton Basin Area Office for development of the Truckee river operations model using RiverWare, HDB, and enhanced Modular Modeling System precipitation runoff modeling and extended streamflow forecasts.

Contacts Principal Investigator is Tom Scott, LBAO, and Ann Jetton, USGS, Carson City, NV

Team Leader is Steffen Meyer, TSC.

Pacific Northwest Region

WaRSMP support to the Yakima Project and the Umatilla Basin Project, and the Federal Columbia River Project to improve watershed management and river system operations through improved streamflow forecasts and efficient system management of water accounting. Contact PIs are Warren Sharp, UCAO; and Chris Lynch, YPO.

Team leader from the TSC is Don Frevert, WaRSMP Program Manager

AWARDS - ET Toolbox implementation for water management decision making in the Rogue River, Tualatin, and Yakima - Upper Columbia Basins. This system uses real-time radar and surface observations to estimate the spatial distribution of quantitative precipitation over the basin, and computes evapotranspiration from the Agrimet stations in the area. More detailed GIS coverages of crops and riparian vegetation will be used to estimate consumptive uses over the Yakima basin.

Contacts are Leo Busch, Bend Project Office, and Warren Sharp, UCAO

xxx and Al Brower are the team leaders.

Great Plains Region:

Upper Missouri improved streamflow forecasting is underway in conjunction with the Montana Area Office and the GP Regional office. This S&T study is designed to improve water supply forecasts from the Missouri Basin River Forecast Center using the National Weather Service's Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Services and products from NOAA's Global Energy and Water Cycles using WSR-88D Montana radar Experiment (GEWEX) Continental-scale International Project (GCIP). Current improvements for forecasts are available on the web showing snow and precipitation water equivalents for 24 hour periods over the Upper Missouri watersheds.

Contacts are Tim Felchle, MTAO and Gordon Aycock, GP Regional Office.

xxx is the team leader.

Platte River Basin Management Support - AWARDS / ET Toolbox is being developed for the (Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado) Platte River basin (FY2000, 2001) transferring and extending capabilities of Reclamation's Agricultural Water Resources Decision Support (AWARDS) system and ET toolbox technology. Contacts are Bill Harlin, ECAO, and Mike Kube, KNAO.

Steffen Meyer is the team leader for this project.

Lugart-Altus AWARDS operational support for water conservation and management in southwest Oklahoma. Contact person in the Texas Oklahoma Area Office is:

xxx is the team leader.

Rincon Bayou Demonstration Project - Technical support was provided to assist in project design, evaluation and oversight, plus climate assessment of the project area in this multi-agency environmental study of wetland restoration. This project is completed.

Contact point was Mike Irlbeck, TOAO.

Jon Medina was a team member of the Reclamation three-member oversight team.

Wetlands Restoration: Prairie Pothole Region of the Northern Plains - Global climate change and variability studies are being conducted on the potential impacts on local vegetation of climate and different wetland restoration schemes. The flood of 1997 in the Northern Plains and effects of powerful El Ninos and La Ninas in the tropical Pacific Ocean are examples of our highly variable climatic period. These variations likely influence the evolution of wetlands. There is Congressional discussion on revising wetland management regulation that may allow the draining of additional active wetlands. Contact point is Rick Nelson, DAO

Jon Medina is the team leader.

Wetlands Research - Water chemistry data analyses are underway on data collected in semi-permanent and seasonal watered potholes of eastern North Dakota. The primary question addressed is determining the water chemistry character of restored wetlands, in comparison with natural wetlands. Contact point is Rick Nelson, DAO

Jon Medina is providing statistical analyses for this study.

National Xeriscape Demonstration Program (NXDP)- Reclamation, in cooperation and partnership with several municipalities of the West, is conducting demonstration projects of landscape water conservation involving installation of water-conserving Xeriscape landscapes. Studies have been or are being conducted at Austin TX, Phoenix AZ, Las Vegas NV, Denver CO and vicinity, and Fargo ND. This project is designed to estimate the benefits and deficits of implementing water conserving landscapes to reduce water consumption by municipalities. Contacts are Chris Bridges and Jon Medina, Denver Federal Center.

Jon Medina is the Coordinator for the NXDP.

River Systems & Meteorology Group D-8510