Effectiveness of water-harvesting earthworks in mountain protected areas

在高原山区，正在扩大集水土方工程的建设，以增加农业、生态系统、城市和工业使用的淡水供应。WHEs的建设正在改变公共和私人土地的土地覆盖特征，包括生态敏感地区。相对而言，很少有人知道水利水电工程建设的水文影响，以及项目是否会产生预期的结果。本研究通过结合以下数据评估集水土方工程在淡水保护方面的有效性：（1）实地调查，制图，遥感和空间分析;（2）实地监测和实验，土壤和水文特性;（3）空间分布水文建模。该项目确定了集水土方工程在多大程度上是高原地区土地覆盖变化的主要驱动力，项目实施对不同利益相关者群体的好处，该项目研究采用了实证方法，收集现有集水土方工程项目的空间和环境数据，以了解这些项目的生态和水文影响。该项目的具体目标是量化WHE项目的空间分布和设计，2）表征、经验建模、评估WHE受影响集水区的降水-径流渗透动态，3）并将数据合成为WHE管理者的研究结果。数据是从实地调查和遥感分析的空间分布和现有的WHE项目的设计。建立了入渗-径流模型，以确定不同类型的WHE在不同环境条件下的水文影响。调查结果被合成为数据和报告，为WHE经理设计。该研究建立在农业边坡管理和水源保护的地理研究基础上，并将对人类与环境相互作用的理解扩展到一种重要的社会生态系统类型。该项目由人类环境与地理科学计划和刺激竞争研究的既定计划（EPSCoR）共同资助。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Construction of water-harvesting earthworks (WHE) is expanding in highland mountain areas to increase the supply of freshwater available for agriculture, ecosystems, urban and industrial use. The construction of WHEs is transforming land cover characteristics in public and private lands including in ecologically sensitive areas. Relatively little is known about the hydrological effects of WHE construction and whether projects result in desired outcomes. This research assesses the effectiveness of water harvesting earthworks in the context of freshwater conservation by combining data from (1) field surveys, mapping, remote sensing, and spatial analysis; (2) field site monitoring and experiments, and soil and hydrologic characterization; and (3) spatially distributed hydrologic modeling. The project identifies to what degree water-harvesting earthworks are a major drive of land cover change in highland regions the benefits of project implementation for different stakeholder groups.This project research employs an empirical approach to gather spatial and environmental data on existing water-harvesting earthworks projects to understand the ecological and hydrological impacts of these projects. The specific goals of this project are to quantify the spatial distributions and design of WHE projects, 2) characterize, empirically model, & assess precipitation-runoff & infiltration dynamics of WHE impacted catchments, 3) and synthesize data into research findings for WHE managers. Data are developed from field surveys and remote sensing analyses of the spatial distributions and design of existing WHE projects. Infiltration-runoff models are developed to determine hydrological impacts of different types of WHE in diverse environmental conditions. Findings are synthesized into data and reports designed for WHE managers. The research builds upon geographical research in agricultural slope management and water conservation and extends the understanding of human-environment interactions into an important type of social-ecological system.This project is jointly funded by the Human-Environment and Geographical Sciences program and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.