Identifying Subwatersheds within the TRW
As our comprehensive watershed planning process begins in the Turkey River Watershed and the Iowa Flood Center (IFC) looks to implement a Watershed Demonstration project, it has become apparent that we need to start identifying sub-watershed projects in the Turkey River Watershed for both the comprehensive watershed plan and the IFC watershed demonstration project.
We will know on February 19th whether the Iowa Watershed Advisory Council has selected the Turkey River Watershed for funding a HUC 12 watershed project in partnership with the Iowa Flood Center, and we plan to operate on the assumption that the Turkey River Watershed is one of the 3 out of 4 watersheds that is selected.
The first step will be a collaborative process between the Watershed Management Authority Board of Directors, Watershed Alliance, Iowa Flood Center, and public to narrow down the list down to our top 12-digit HUC subwatersheds. (For more information on 12-digit HUC watersheds within the Turkey, please visit: https://turkeyriver.org/huc-12-watersheds/)
The Watershed Management Authority board of directors and Iowa Flood Center have, so far, identified several positive characteristics of a HUC 12 subwatershed for the Iowa Flood Center demonstration project. Positive attributes are listed in the form below.
- Watershed with intrinsic public value/awareness
- Headwater regions of the watershed
- High runoff & localized flooding observed during rainstorms (Damages to property – residential, commercial, & repetitive crop damages; Washed out / impassable roadways )
- Team of diverse stakeholders, technical expertise and local leadership (Local, state and federal organizations)
- Watershed projects, past and proposed
- Landowner and producer willingness to participate
The Iowa Flood Center would like to meet again in early March, and at that point, we will work to have a list of potential HUC 12 watershed demonstration projects for further review.