• NEPA Environmental Impact Statements (EISs)/Environmental Assessments (EAs)
• Conservation studies
• Site characterizations
• Viewshed analyses
• Trend analyses
• Remediation projects, and
• Long- and short-term monitoring projects
• Site selection studies and
• Alternative analyses based
• Water quality
• Total maximum daily load (TMDL) assessments
• Corridor studies
• Statistical analyses
• Geologic and soil studies
• Agricultural and land-use planning
• Demographic and socioeconomic studies
• Marketing

Spatial Analysis of Coal Mining Impacts on Eastern Kentucky Watersheds (2010)

Surface coal mining has historically been and continues to be a prevalent industry in the eastern coalfields of Kentucky. Surface mining methods of coal extraction impact the land, air, water, watersheds, local communities and public health. When overburden is cleared or the surface is impacted in order to extract coal, those impacts to the watershed can be calculated based on area and proximity to certain sensitive features. Using publicly accessible data, this report uses GIS to model, quantify, and report those impacts.

• Habitat assessment
• Watershed and hydrologic modeling
• Pollution loading
• Water quality
• Water quantity
• Alternative future scenario
• Resource vulnerability
• Networks
• Predictive modeling
• Ecological modeling
• Spatial interpolation
• 3D model generation

Fishery and aquatic scientists often assess habitats to understand the distribution, status, threats, and relative abundance of aquatic resources. Due to the spatial nature of habitats and associated temporal changes, using traditional analytical methods is often difficult. GIS can be used to effectively collate, archive, display, analyze, and model spatial and temporal data. This spatial data is being used to develop habitat assessment models for the Fish Habitat Partnerships (FHPs) for the Midwestern region of the United States. The model will be utilized to conduct fish habitat condition assessments based on a range of specified metrics or modeling endpoints. The habitat assessment model will also produce the quantitative metrics that will determine the stressors of habitat health at various geographic scales in specific FHP regions. Additionally, a geospatial decision support tool will be developed to give users the ability to understand habitat conditions and stressors (produced by the model) based on the status and severity of threats, at a specified location, at the catchment level.

• Custom decision support tool
• Multi-criteria decision making applications
• Geodatabase design
• Utility networks
• Water quality and data management systems
• Data interpretation and custom analyses
• Geoprocessing models
• CAD conversion
• Image geo-rectification/geo-referencing
• Map digitization/vectorization/feature extraction
• Onsite data collection (GPS)
• Geodata management
• Needs assessment
• Training

The Elk River headwaters is the premier trout stream in the state and one of the best in the eastern United States. Because of the desire among watershed residents and community leaders to address recent threats, a stakeholder-driven Comprehensive Watershed Plan (CWP) is in process to link future economic development with habitat protection. Many tools and datasets are being developed to assist watershed residents with the implementation of the CWP. Included is a GIS-based watershed management system, which includes two major components: (1) a tool that models proposed development scenarios, and (2) a system for housing data. Together, these components will provide a GIS-enabled database to assist the watershed group and community members with data management, analyses, and reporting and will provide the ability to examine development proposals and the potential subsequent impacts to the watershed.