The Watershed Health Assessment Framework (WHAF) is a web-based tool for resource managers and others interested in the ecological health of Minnesota’s watersheds.
Five components are used to describe the similarities and differences between watersheds.
The five components are:
By describing, quantifying and comparing watershed health based on each of these components, the user will gain appreciation and understanding of the context and constraints faced by natural resource systems.
The tool itself has three distinct and equally important parts.
1. The first is the text that is incorporated throughout the website that explains important concepts. Understanding these concepts and the connections between the five components is essential for comprehensive assessment of watershed health.
2. The second is the online mapping interface that delivers pre-loaded data within the component framework. The Watershed Assessment Map displays, summarizes and compares GIS natural resource data by major watershed boundary. Spatial distribution and summary tables are used to describe the status of resource features for each component within a selected watershed.
3. The third is the delivery of ecological health scores for Minnesota's major watersheds. Each of the five components has a number of health index rankings. These index results are combined to show health trends across the state.
Using the three parts together, the component framework, the maps and data, and the health index scores; will lead to a better understanding of the components, their connection to each other and the complexity of interactions to consider prior to making resource management decisions.