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GIS Site Search of the Rappahannock
River Basin, Central Virginia

Showcases:
UVA Biodiversity Analysis
Rocky Pen Reservoir
Rappahannock Site Search

Williamsburg Environmental Group, Inc. (WEG) was contracted by the Falling Springs, LLC in order to conduct a Geographic Information System (GIS) site search for the Rappahannock River Basin to evaluate potential areas for wetland and stream mitigation.  This area was deemed to be an underserviced watershed, with a large gap between the current supply for mitigation credits and the current and expected future demand of credits using an advanced GIS gap anaylsis approach for the entire Commonwealth of Virginia. Portions of the counties that fell within this watershed were analyzed to determine the feasibility of each individual parcel of land for potential stream and wetland mitigation.  To perform an analysis of this area, WEG staff looked at the acreage and zoning of each parcel using tax parcel layers obtained from each individual county.  WEG also used Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) soils, National Wetlands Inventory (NWI) wetlands, National Hydrogrpahy Dataset (NHD) streams, color infrared (CIR) and true color aerial photographs, United States Geological Survey (USGS) canopy layer and quadrangle maps, and Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) existing eased lands.  Each of these data layers was overlain on the tax parcels and each parcel was then ranked based on acreage, linear feet of streams, linear feet of unbuffered streams, potential dam removal, headwaters/watershed protection, wetland potential, and proximity to eased lands.  From these rankings, the top twenty sites were identified for further study.  A final report was provided that included a site matrix of the twenty sites, owner and contact information for the parcels, and a series of maps for each tract of land.

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