Dr. Merritts observing a steep bank of sediment built up behind a milldam in MD
TARGETING
To help landowners better understand the change occurring on their property, WSI maps erosion, legacy sediment terrace thickness, and canopy height and density and compiles reports like this on the individual parcel scale. We take erosion rate, canopy development, land access, presence of historic sediment, and proximity to historic dam locations into account when analyzing a site's restoration potential.
Our data and insight prepares conservation districts, municipal engineers, restoration practitioners, agencies, and other parties to get the most impact and long-term reductions out of their restoration efforts.
To get at the big picture, WSI produces countywide hot spot maps which identify watersheds with the largest volume of stream bank erosion. Honing in on these high-priority watersheds, our detailed heat maps pinpoint optimal sites for BMP installation within a watershed.
Hot spot maps of HUC12 watersheds in York and Lancaster Counties based on the results of DEM differencing. Dark red watersheds have the most annual stream bank erosion per unit length of stream.
Block statistics heat map of the Upper South Branch Codorus Creek watershed in York County, PA showing annual erosion in tons of sediment per year. This map pinpoints erosion hot spots on particular lengths of stream which, combined with other datasets produced by WSI, can help identify priority sites for wetland restoration, riparian buffer installation, or other specific BMP requirements. 2014 USGS post-Sandy LiDAR.