342 Chapter 20 Spring Creek Watershed, Pennsylvania: National Institute of Food and Agriculture–Conservation Effects Assessment Project D.L. Osmond, R. Brooks, S. Yetter, R. Carline, K. Boomer, A. Armstrong, R. Stedman, D.W. Meals, and G.D. Jennings F our project objectives were divided by activity in the Pennsylvania National Institute of Food and Agriculture–Conservation Effects Assessment Project (NIFA–CEAP), Analysis of Best Management Practice (BMP) Implementation Performance and Maintenance in Spring Creek, an Agriculturally-Infuenced Watershed in Pennsylvania: 1. Landscape characterization—coarse and fne resolution geographical information sys- tem analyses: • To determine at what spatial scale (coarse [30 m (98 ft)] versus fne [<1 m (<3.3 ft)] remote data resolution; reach [smaller area] versus subwatershed [larger area]) the performance of BMPs can be assessed and subsequently aggregated on a watershed basis 2. Hydrologic and landscape modeling of BMP performance: • To quantify the relative importance of agricultural uplands, riparian zones, and stream channels as sediment sources and to quantify the relative benefts of upland, riparian, and in-stream BMPs on stream sediment loads 3. Ground-based monitoring and ecological analyses: • To determine if reach-level measures of abiotic (substrate composition) and biotic (macroinvertebrates and fsh) variables are useful surrogate measures of water qual- ity to describe effects of BMPs on stream ecosystems • To determine if reach-level abiotic and biotic variables vary spatially with regard to the number of BMPs implemented upstream of study reaches • To assess the time required to measure stream responses to BMPs over a range of 1 to 12 years 4. Socioeconomic analyses and outreach: • To explore the factors that affect effective farmer adoption of BMPs and citizen per- ceptions of water quality • To develop methods for integrating and communicating the complexity of water quality measures derived from multiple measures and multiple sites to stakeholders by watershed (c) SWCS. For Individual Use Only