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Science You Can Use Bulletin March/April 2016 • ISSUE 18

Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station 

United States Department of Agriculture

Rocky Mountain Research Station

Science You Can Use Bulletin

March/April 2016 | Issue 18

SUMMARY

A poorly placed or unsuitably designed road 

can result in landslides, flooding, gullies, 

stream damage, and wildlife habitat destruction. Particularly in natural areas, benefits of 

roads, such as accessibility and convenience, 

must be weighed against potential water 

quality degradation, scenic and wildlife habitat 

destruction, and hazardous driving conditions.

Scientists at the Rocky Mountain Research 

Station helped create two free tools—GRAIP 

(Geomorphic Road Analysis and Inventory Package) and GRAIP-Lite—to help land 

managers make better decisions about road 

management in environmentally sensitive 

areas. GRAIP helps land managers analyze and 

predict surface erosion, gully risk, landslide 

risk, stream crossing failure risks, and other 

hazards. GRAIP-Lite allows land managers 

to quickly compare roads and road lengths in 

terms of their potential impact on the environment.

Land managers in places like southwest Crown 

of the Continent in Montana and the Payette 

National Forest in Idaho are finding GRAIP and 

GRAIP-Lite to be useful tools for prioritizing road management projects, validating 

road management decisions, and building 

consensus among stakeholders. The tools 

have also been useful in context of the Legacy 

Roads and Trails program, Clean Water Act 

requirements, and the Collaborative Forest 

Landscape Restoration Program.

In 2003, the American novelist and environmental activist Wendell Berry wrote 

about the differences between a path and 

road. “A path,” he said,“is little more than 

a habit that comes with knowledge of a 

place. It is a sort of ritual of familiarity. 

As a form, it is a form of contact with a 

known landscape. It is not destructive. It 

is the perfect adaptation, through experience and familiarity, of movement to 

place; it obeys the natural contours; such 

obstacles as it meets it goes around.”

Wendell Berry was much less complimentary when it came to roads, which 

he described in this way: “The road is 

a word, conceived elsewhere and laid 

across the country in the wound prepared for it: a word made concrete and 

thrust among us.”

It’s safe to say that few Americans are 

as critical of roads as Wendell Berry. 

By most estimates, the United States is 

home to the second largest passenger veRoad Scholars for the Western States: Protecting Natural Areas by 

Improving Road Management Research

A researcher checks the conditions of a decommissioned road on the Siuslaw National Forest in 

western Oregon (photo by USDA Forest Service).
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Science You Can Use Bulletin March/April 2016 • ISSUE 18

Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station 

hicle market of any country in the world. 

If asked to consider the relationship between roads and nature, many Americans 

would likely think in terms of accessibility 

or of favorite scenic drives.

Yet there are places where roads have 

caused significant damage to the surrounding ecosystem. Landslides, flooding, 

gullies, and stream damage can all result 

from unsuitable road placement or design. 

Consequences can include water quality 

degradation, scenic and wildlife habitat 

destruction, and hazardous driving conditions. And it’s important to recognize that 

not all roads are created equal. Rocky 

Mountain Research Station (RMRS) 

scientists estimate that less than 10% of 

all road lengths are responsible for more 

than 90% of road-related damage to the 

environment.

Improving Wildland Ecosystems 

via Road Research

Thankfully, scientists such as Charlie 

Luce and Tom Black give roads and their 

environmental impact due consideration. 

As hydrologists for the Rocky Mountain 

Research Station Air, Water, and Aquatic 

Environments Program in Boise, Idaho, 

Luce and Black study roads and how they 

affect a wide range of environmental factors, including erosion, sedimentation, 

slope stability, and hydrology.

Luce and Black work with different teams 

across the western States, often in support 

of the Legacy Roads and Trails program, 

which was created by Congress in 2008 

to fund USDA Forest Service projects to 

reduce the impacts of roads and trails on 

water and aquatic resources. The work 

of Luce, Black, and their collaborators is 

part of a broader effort for which RMRS 

has partnered with the Pacific Northwest, 

Intermountain, Northern, and Pacific 

Southwest Regions of the Forest Service 

along with the Bureau of Land Management to assess the effectiveness of road 

decommissioning and storage treatments 

at reducing runoff and erosion impacts of 

forest roads on streams.

Rocky Mountain Research 

Station scientists estimate 

that less than 10% of all 

road lengths are responsible 

for more than 90% of 

road-related damage to the 

environment.

Culverts that concentrate surface water and discharge it onto steep, unstable hill slopes can contribute to landslides like this one near Verlot, Washington (photo by USDA Forest Service).

A Brief Look: Rocky Mountain Research Station’s 

Air, Water, and Aquatic Environment Research 

Program

The Rocky Mountain Research Station has eight 

science program areas, one of which is the Air, 

Water, and Aquatic Environment (AWAE) Program. 

The expertise of AWAE scientists spans atmospheric sciences, soils, forest engineering, biogeochemistry, hydrology, plant physiology, aquatic ecology 

and limnology, conservation biology, and fisheries. 

Priorities of AWAE scientists include the development of core knowledge, methods, and technologies to help land managers provide for clean air and 

water, sustain biodiversity, and maintain healthy 

watershed conditions across the West.

In the words of Dr. Frank McCormick, AWAE 

Program Manager, “Natural disturbances, land 

management, and human expansion affect water 

quality and quantity and the aquatic resources. Our 

research explores the complex relationships among 

the physical, chemical, and biological properties 

of watersheds, the ecosystem processes that 

sustain biodiversity, and resource conservation and 

restoration.”

Additional information on AWAE and its research 

efforts can be found at http://www.fs.fed.us/rm/

boise/awae_home.shtml.
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Science You Can Use Bulletin March/April 2016 • ISSUE 18

Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station 

Graip Modeling Tools for Land 

Managers

To help land managers evaluate the 

impacts of roads on their local environments, Luce and Black worked with 

civil engineers at Utah State University 

to develop a modeling tool called the 

Geomorphic Road Analysis and Inventory Package, or GRAIP. David Tarboton, 

a professor of civil and environmental 

engineering at Utah State University, led 

the development of GRAIP. According to 

Tarboton, “It’s a very simple model but 

there’s an elegance to it in that it captures 

the knowledge that field surveyors find 

from the roads. And people keep coming 

back for the upgrades.”

GRAIP combines on-the-ground road 

inventories with a powerful GIS tool set to 

predict surface erosion, sediment production and delivery, mass wasting risk from 

gullies and landslides, stream crossing 

failure risks, and other hazards. GRAIP 

factors in various road attributes and 

characteristics, including road design and 

slope, surface material, traffic level, rainfall, soil type, local geology, and aboveand below-ground water flows. “GRAIP 

is useful in many places, but it provides 

a tremendous amount of value in places 

like the Pacific Northwest where there’s a 

lot of steep, wet country,” Black says. “It 

also helps reduce liability by helping to 

demonstrate that you’ve done your due 

diligence.”

The team also developed GRAIP-Lite, a 

geographic information system (GIS)-

based tool that evaluates and compares 

sediment delivery from different roads. 

GRAIP-Lite is a less detailed, more “bigpicture” approach than GRAIP, with the 

purpose of helping land managers prioritize road restoration projects that minimize risk and environmental damage.

GRAIP Legacy Roads monitoring sites span national forests in California, Washington, Oregon, 

Idaho, Montana, and Utah (image source: USDA Forest Service).

Hydrologist Richard Cissel weighs sediment 

as part of GRAIP research in Montana 

(photo by USDA Forest Service).
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Science You Can Use Bulletin March/April 2016 • ISSUE 18

Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station 

Cost, Transportation, and 

Environmental Benefits

Whether a project calls for GRAIP or 

GRAIP-Lite, Luce says, the tools are highly cost-effective relative to the alternatives. 

“If you’re looking at treating a section 

of road in advance of an erosion event 

you may be looking at spending tens of 

thousands of dollars per mile. The cost of 

fixing a landslide or a washout can easily 

hit $100,000 per mile or more, or you 

just close the road and write it off,” Luce 

explains. And according to Brian Staab, 

a hydrologist for the Pacific Northwest 

Region of the Forest Service, “There’s not 

enough money for us to treat the entire 

road system, so it’s crucial to know where 

to focus our efforts. GRAIP has also been 

useful as a before-and-after monitoring 

tool to check the effectiveness of road 

treatment.”

GRAIP or GRAIP-Lite are available at no 

cost from the Rocky Mountain Research 

Station. GRAIP road inventorying might 

take a full summer and have associated 

costs running to hundreds of dollars per 

mile. Road inventorying for GRAIP-Lite 

usually takes about a month and costs 

around $1 per mile of road.

Both tools have helped land managers 

determine the locations where restoration efforts will yield the greatest benefits while meeting travel management 

objectives. Travel management directives 

require all national forests or ranger districts to designate roads, trails, and areas 

open to motor vehicles based on accessibility and environmental considerations. 

“Having a suite of tools that includes 

GRAIP and GRAIP-Lite can help land 

managers make smarter decisions and 

avoid making unnecessary mistakes in 

road management,” Black says. “It’s a more 

rigorous approach than the default methodology out there, which we like to call 

‘mental GIS.’ That’s when someone just 

knows where all the problem areas are, 

and it all goes into a big binder that was 

started around 1950. That information 

can be lost or become irrelevant. By having things spatially based using GRAIP 

or GRAIP-Lite, it’s easier to update, share, 

and control the data.”

GRAIP and GRAIP-Lite also help land 

managers comply with the Clean Water 

Act’s requirements to identify impaired 

water sources and calculate their Total 

Maximum Daily Load (TMDL), which 

is the maximum amount of a pollutant 

that a water body can receive and still 

meet water quality standards. In a study 

of 52 road treatment projects where roads 

“There’s not enough money 

for us to treat the entire 

road system, so it’s crucial 

to know where to focus our 

efforts. GRAIP has also 

been useful as a beforeand-after monitoring tool 

to check the effectiveness 

of road treatment.” -Brian 

Staab, hydrologist for the 

Pacific Northwest Region of 

the Forest Service

Road crews use a crane to weigh sediment as part of GRAIP roadside research (photo by USDA 

Forest Service).
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Science You Can Use Bulletin March/April 2016 • ISSUE 18

Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station 

had been contributing to water quality 

issues, scientists found that road removal 

reduced sediment production by about 

80% while road improvements reduced 

sediment by about 60% on average, as 

measured after a significant storm. According to Leigh Woodruff, Idaho TDML 

Program Manager for the Environmental Protection Agency, “Sediment is a 

big problem in the northwestern states 

and a lot of that sediment comes from 

roads. GRAIP and GRAIP-Lite have been 

fabulous tools in helping land managers 

set priorities and reduce sediment to meet 

state water quality standards.”

Researching Roads in Crown of 

the Continent

One place where GRAIP has been especially useful is the Crown of the Continent ecosystem in northwest Montana. 

Three times the size of Connecticut, 

Crown of the Continent spans 28,000 

square miles of protected land, including Glacier National Park and the Lolo, 

Helena, and Flathead National Forests. 

Crown of the Continent’s biologically 

rich environment supports more than 

1,000 native plants, 70 mammals, and 260 

species of birds. From its high peaks to 

glaciated valleys, windswept prairies, and 

Road Analysis and Inventory with GRAIP and 

GRAIP-Lite

The Geomorphic Road Analysis and Inventory Package (GRAIP) is a process and a set of tools for analyzing the impacts of roads on forested watersheds. 

GRAIP couples on-the-ground road inventories with 

a powerful GIS tool set to predict sediment production and delivery, risk of mass wasting from gullies 

and landslides, stream diversion potential, and 

other road impacts. GRAIP inventory and analysis 

methods can be locally calibrated and implemented 

with minimal effort, making it a powerful tool to 

support decision-making under a variety of environmental conditions.

GRAIP-Lite is a “big-picture,” less detailed approach 

to road analysis that evaluates and compares 

sediment delivery from different roads. GRAIP-Lite 

can help land managers prioritize road restoration 

projects that minimize environmental damage.

GRAIP and GRAIP-Lite software, frequently asked 

questions, publications, and other supporting 

information are available at http://www.fs.fed.us/

GRAIP/.

rushing rivers, Crown of the Continent 

is important to naturalists, tourists, and 

residents alike.

Crown of the Continent contains many 

of the largest remaining blocks of roadless lands in the contiguous United States, 

but it also includes thousands of acres of 

forest lands that have been heavily logged 

and densely roaded. Many of these areas 

need ecological restoration. According to 

Shane Hendrickson, a fisheries biologist 

for the Lolo National Forest in western 

Montana, “The southwest Crown of 

the Continent is considered one of the 

ecological hubs for the greater Continental Divide area. It also has very dynamic 

topography and climate, and it’s important 

to consider the area’s roads as part of that 

context.”

Using GRAIP to Support 

Collaboration

Managers and stakeholders of the Crown 

of the Continent have benefited from 

the Forest Service’s Collaborative Forest 

Landscape Restoration Program (CFLRP). 

Established in 2010, the CFLRP’s goal is 

to encourage collaborative, science-based 

ecosystem restoration of priority forest 

landscapes. According to Luce, “CFLRP 

helps bring a map to the table to help 

target funds and road testing planning.” 

GRAIP and GRAIP-Lite are naturally up 

to the task.

“GRAIP and GRAIP-Lite 

have been fabulous tools in 

helping land managers set 

priorities and reduce sediment to meet state water 

quality standards.” - Leigh 

Woodruff, Environmental 

Protection Agency

A GRAIP field crewmember enters survey data for a road in the Crown of the Continent 

ecosystem (photo by USDA Forest Service).
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Science You Can Use Bulletin March/April 2016 • ISSUE 18

Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station 

Goals of the Southwestern Crown of the 

Continent CFLRP are to restore forest and 

aquatic ecosystem function, to improve 

landscape-level biodiversity, resiliency, 

and adaptability, to enhance recreational 

experiences, and to reduce risks for those 

living in the wildland-urban interface. 

Forest Service managers and their partners are achieving these goals by reducing wildfire risk, restoring overall forest 

health, and reducing sedimentation from 

forest roads into lakes and streams. This 

project, which will take an estimated 10 

years to complete, will include restoration 

efforts on nearly 200,000 acres of National 

Forest System land. Specific treatments 

include exotic species removal, planting 

in riverside areas, stream channel restoration, bridge and culvert upgrades and 

replacement, and road removal.

Hendrickson cites GRAIP and GRAIPLite as key parts of this effort in Crown of 

the Continent. “GRAIP provides bootson-the-ground, empirical data that quantitatively validated what roads we thought 

were a concern and which were less of 

a concern,” Hendrickson said, adding, 

“GRAIP-Lite is more of a cursory model. 

It’s going to be a very useful planning tool 

that helps identify likely problem road 

segments across a large landscape.”

Creating Consensus in Payette 

National Forest

Payette National Forest is another area 

where GRAIP and GRAIP-Lite are helping 

land managers assess and manage forests 

roads. Located in western Idaho, Payette 

National Forest contains a significant porSediment accumulation from road surfaces in the Cold Creek area based on a GRAIP-analysis 

for the Flathead National Forest in western Montana (source: Cissel and others 2014).

tion of the second largest Wilderness Area 

outside of Alaska. It also has an extensive 

timber management history. This dual 

heritage has resulted in highly conflicting views about management priorities. 

According to Rick Tholen of the Payette 

Forest Coalition, “One of the sticky issues, 

since our focus is watershed management 

as well as vegetation management, is that 

we’re trying to decommission roads—

either block access or eradicate them 

completely. Getting agreement has been 

difficult, especially in small rural communities. The GRAIP model has allowed us 

to move forward because it demonstrates 

that the Forest Service is actually putting 

some research into its recommendations. 

It’s helped reestablish trust in the Forest 

Service.”

Jake Strohmeyer, a forest engineer for 

the Payette National Forest, agrees that 

A sediment trap measures road sediment 

and runoff as part of the Weiser-Little 

Salmon Headwaters Collaborative Forest 

Landscape Restoration Program on the 

Payette National Forest in western Idaho 

(photo by USDA Forest Service). 
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Science You Can Use Bulletin March/April 2016 • ISSUE 18

Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station 

MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS

• Roads in natural lands are an important part of the wildland-urban interface, but poorly placed or unsuitably designed roads can degrade water quality, reduce scenic values, destroy wildlife habitat, and create 

hazardous driving conditions.

• Not all roads are created equal. According to Rocky Mountain Research Station scientists, less than 10% 

of all road lengths are responsible for more than 90% of road-related damage to the environment.

• GRAIP (Geomorphic Road Analysis and Inventory Package) and GRAIP-Lite combine on-the-ground road 

inventories with a powerful GIS tool set to help analyze impacts and hazards associated with forest roads.

• Analyses from GRAIP and GRAIP-Lite can provide a scientific basis for road management decisions and 

help build consensus among stakeholder groups, especially when prioritizing road decommissioning and 

balancing ecosystem concerns with travel management and accessibility requirements.

GRAIP has helped build consensus. 

“GRAIP has helped us with travel management in sensitive watershed areas,” 

Strohmeyer says. “Everyone likes having 

the data—both the motorized folks and 

the conservation folks: It puts them all on 

an equal playing field.” Payette National 

Forest hydrologist Melanie Vining adds, 

“We were able to use GRAIP to validate 

the treatments we had already suggested. 

It helped people overcome the perception that road elimination decisions were 

somewhat subjective. It also helped us 

prioritize funding for roads that needed to 

stay open.”

Roads into the Future

Luce and Black offer a 2-week training 

session in Boise, Idaho, every May, and 

webinars and manuals for GRAIP and 

GRAIP-Lite are also available. Basic GIS 

skills are helpful, but GRAIP and GRAIPLite inventorying can be done by novices. 

Additional information on GRAIP and 

GRAIP-Lite can be obtained by going to 

www.fs.fed.us/GRAIP.

Luce and Black agree that the goal for road 

testing in natural areas is to find a balance 

between safety, access, and the environment. After considering Wendell Barry’s 

description of roads and paths, Luce says, 

“The GRAIP model has 

allowed us to move forward 

because it demonstrates that 

the Forest Service is actually 

putting some research into 

its recommendations. It’s 

helped reestablish trust in 

the Forest Service.” - Rick 

Tholen, Payette Forest 

Coalition

A GRAIP crewmember inventories a failed stream crossing culvert on a closed road in southwestern Idaho (photo by USDA Forest Service).

“Roads need to be safe, more than anything else, but it’s important to consider 

their environmental impact. It’s actually 

an achievable vision to make our roads 

more like paths in that they have nearly no 

impact on the environment. That’s what 

we set out to achieve with these tools.”
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Science You Can Use Bulletin March/April 2016 • ISSUE 18

Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station 

FURTHER READING

Black, T.A.; Cissel, R.M.; Luce, C.H. 2012. The Geomorphic Road 

Analysis and Inventory Package (GRAIP) volume 1: Data collection 

method. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-280WWW. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. 

Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research 

Station. 110 p. http://www.treesearch.fs.fed.us/pubs/40654

Black, T.A.; Luce, C.H. 2013. Measuring water and sediment discharge 

from a road plot with a settling basin and tipping bucket. Gen. Tech. 

Rep. RMRS-GTR-287. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, 

Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 38 p. http://www.

treesearch.fs.fed.us/pubs/43456

Cissel, R.; Black, T.A.; Nelson, N.; Luce, C.H. 2014. Southwest Crown 

of the Continent GRAIP roads assessment. Report by the Rocky 

Mountain Research Station, Great Northern Landscape Conservation 

Cooperative, and Southwestern Crown Collaborative. 113 p. http://

www.fs.fed.us/GRAIP/downloads/case_studies/WatershedStudies_

LoloHelenaFlatheadNFs_SWCC_2014%20Final%20Report.pdf

Goode, J.R.; Luce, C.H.; Buffington, J.M. 2012. Enhanced sediment 

delivery in a changing climate in semi-arid mountain basins: 

Implications for water resource management and aquatic habitat in 

the northern Rocky Mountains. Geomorphology. 139–140: 1–15. http://

www.treesearch.fs.fed.us/pubs/40244

Luce, C.H.; Black, T.A. 1999. Sediment production from forest roads in 

western Oregon. Water Resources Research. 35(8): 2561–2570. http://

www.treesearch.fs.fed.us/pubs/50114

Purpose of the Science You Can Use Bulletin

To provide scientific information to people who make and influence decisions 

about managing land. The US Forest Service RMRS Science You Can Use Bulletin is 

published regularly by:

Rocky Mountain Research Station (RMRS)

US Forest Service

240 W Prospect Rd

Fort Collins, CO 80521

Forest Service researchers work at the forefront of science to improve the health 

and use of our Nation’s forests and grasslands. More information about Forest 

Service research in the Rocky Mountain Region can be found here: http://www.

fs.fed.us/rmrs

To receive this bulletin via email, scan the QR code below or use this link: http://

tinyurl.com/RMRSsciencebulletin

Megan Matonis, Bulletin editor, mmatonis@fs.fed.us

Jan Engert, Assistant Station Director,

Science Application & Integration;

jengert@fs.fed.us

WRITER’S PROFILE

Brian Cooke is a science writer for the Rocky Mountain Research Station in Fort Collins, Colorado. He received a bachelor’s degree in journalism-science writing with a minor in geology from Lehigh University. Brian’s work has included articles for the National Park Service, website writing for various environmental services companies, and editorial assignments for a Bureau of Land Management contractor. Brian’s science and 

environmental writing is frequently colored by his National Park Service interpretive training and experience as a volunteer docent for Alcatraz 

Island and San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park.
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Science You Can Use Bulletin March/April 2016 • ISSUE 18

Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station 

In accordance with Federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of 

Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, the USDA, its 

Agencies, offices, and employees, and institutions participating in or 

administering USDA programs are prohibited from discriminating based 

on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity (including 

gender expression), sexual orientation, disability, age, marital status, 

family/parental status, income derived from a public assistance program, political beliefs, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity, in any program or activity conducted or funded by USDA (not all 

bases apply to all programs). Remedies and complaint filing deadlines 

vary by program or incident.

Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication for program information (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, 

American Sign Language, etc.) should contact the responsible Agency 

or USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TTY) or contact 

USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339. Additionally, 

program information may be made available in languages other than 

English.

To file a program discrimination complaint, complete the USDA 

Program Discrimination Complaint Form, AD-3027, found online at 

http://www.ascr.usda.gov/complaint_filing_cust.html and at any USDA 

office or write a letter addressed to USDA and provide in the letter 

all of the information requested in the form. To request a copy of the 

complaint form, call (866) 632-9992. Submit your completed form or 

letter to USDA by: (1) mail: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of 

the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, 

SW, Washington, D.C. 20250-9410; (2) fax: (202) 690-7442; or (3) email: 

program.intake@usda.gov. 

CHARLIE LUCE is a research hydrologist for the Rocky Mountain Research 

Station’s Air, Water, and Aquatic Environments Program in Boise, Idaho. He 

holds a bachelor’s degree in forest management, a master’s degree in forest hydrology from the University of Washington, and a PhD in civil engineering from 

Utah State University. His research interests include climate change effects on 

stream and forest ecosystems, ecohydrology of climate extremes, snow hydrology, and forest road effects on hydrology, slope stability, and erosion.

TOM BLACK is a hydrologist for Rocky Mountain Research Station’s Air, 

Water, and Aquatic Environments Program in Boise, Idaho. He holds bachelor’s 

and master’s degrees in geography from the University of California, Berkeley 

and the University of Colorado, respectively. His research interests include the 

effects of disturbance on erosion and slope stability, hillslope and watershed 

hydrology, forest road sediment and water issues, soil genesis, and climatic 

and environmental change. He has been an affiliate member of the American 

Geophysical Union since 1995.

DAVID TARBOTON is a professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering 

with the Utah Water Research Laboratory, Utah State University. He received 

his doctor of science and master’s degrees in Civil Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. David’s research focuses on advancing 

hydrologic prediction by developing models that incorporate new information 

and technology. His group has developed a number of computer models and 

software packages including GRAIP, the TauDEM hydrologic terrain analysis and 

channel network extraction package, and the Utah energy balance snowmelt 

model. David is lead on the National Science Foundation HydroShare project 

for the development of a collaborative environment for sharing hydrologic data 

and models.

SCIENTIST PROFILES

Charlie and Tom can be reached at: 

USDA Forest Service

Rocky Mountain Research Station

322 East Front Street, Suite 401

Boise, ID 83702-7373

The following scientists were instrumental in the creation of this Bulletin.