POSTER PRESENTER: http://tinyurl.com/2024WSC-Heindel CO-AUTHORS: Rachel Cramer, Eric Englund, Sam Prentice, and Rebecca Eiden, GEI Consultants TITLE: Form meets function: A practical approach to replicating streambank inventories to reach a wider audience ABSTRACT: The Lake Winnebago watershed has been a source of nutrient loading for decades. Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) has developed a Total Minimum Daily Load (TMDL) targeting nutrients within the watershed. TMDL targets are limits set by WDNR that assess a range of water quality parameters. Loading is the amount of sediment moving across the watershed. The United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA-NRCS) has developed soil type and phosphorous ratios to determine a stream loading within a watershed. GEI developed new methods to assess streambank erosion and calculate loading intended for replication by stakeholders. The loading results provide an opportunity for comparing existing TMDL standards along with identifying future restoration locations to reduce nutrient loading. The new methods were developed in collaboration with WDNR and combine principles from NRCS and Rosgen Stream Classification systems. The goal was to create a series of standard operating procedures that could be repeated in any HUC12 watershed by stakeholder groups such as conservation clubs, non-profits, or local governments. Current models require intensive field surveys by highly trained people and limit stakeholders. A series of weighted overlay models were created to classify erosion potential. Model results were used in site selection of 12% of the total watershed stream miles to be surveyed. Field efforts mapped streambank erosion, assessed habitat quality, and identified quality of wetlands. Data collected from these stream reaches were then extrapolated across the watershed to determine nutrient loading for each watershed. Initial results indicate the methodology developed yielded meaningful results for nutrient loading and identified areas for stream and wetland restoration as compared to prior data in the reporting phase. BIO: Gabe Heindel has ecological consulting experience related to wetland and waterway delineations, threatened and endangered species surveys, habitat assessments, streambank inventories, invasive species management, project management, environmental monitoring, environmental reports, offsite wetland assessments, permitting, and spatial analysis.