Procedures Manual for Watershed- Based Salinity Management A comprehensive manual for assessing and addressing salinity on a watershed basis AGRICULTURE, FOOD AND Alberta Environmentally Sustainable Agriculture Program RURAL DEVELOPMENT Procedures Manual for Watershed- Based Salinity Management A comprehensive manual for assessing and addressing salinity on a watershed basis R. A. MacMillan LandMapper Environmental Solutions Edmonton, Alberta L. C. Marciak Alberta Agriculture, Food and Rural Development Conservation and Development Branch Edmonton, Alberta This work was conducted with the financial support of: County of Warner No. 5 and Dryland Salinity Control Association 2001 Citation MacMillan, R. A. and L.C. Marciak. 2001. Procedures manual for watershed-based salinity management: A comprehensive manual for assessing and addressing salinity on a watershed basis. Alberta Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, Conservation and Development Branch. Edmonton, Alberta. 54 pp. Published by: Conservation and Development Branch Alberta Agriculture, Food and Rural Development 7000 – 113th Street Edmonton, Alberta T6H 5T6 (780) 422-4385 Copyright 2001. All rights reserved by her Majesty the Queen in the Right of Alberta. Any reproduction (including storage in an electronic retrieval system) requires written permission from Conservation and Development Branch, Alberta Agriculture, Food and Rural Development. Copies of this publication are available from: Alberta Agriculture, Food and Rural Development This publication is a co-operative project by Alberta Agriculture, Food and Rural Development’s Conservation and Development Branch, Alberta Environmentally Sustainable Agriculture Program, County of Warner No. 5 and the Dryland Salinity Control Association. Printed in Canada. 2001 Acknowledgments Alberta Agriculture, Food and Rural Development (AAFRD) initiated this project in 1996 in response to a request from the County of Warner No. 5 and the Dryland Salinity Control Association (DSCA). The County of Warner and the DSCA were concerned about the extent of salinity in the County and the possibility that salinity might increase in extent. They requested assistance to develop and apply procedures for planning and implementing solutions to control and reduce visible dryland salinity. Personnel from the County of Warner involved in initiating the request included Bob Forest and Keith Heggie, the Agricultural and Assistant Agricultural Fieldmen at the time and Councilor Gordon Peterson, Chair of the Agricultural Service Board. Their interest in and enthusiasm for, a watershed based approach to assessment and control of soil salinity provided the initial impetus for the project and greatly influenced its conceptual design and organization. Vern McNeely and Kirt Thompson of the DSCA were also instrumental in recognizing the need for a formal set of procedures to assist municipalities to identify and control dryland salinity. They encouraged and supported the initial request for assistance and contributed their expertise to the project design and implementation. Jane Holzer and her colleagues with the Montana Salinity Control Association were most gracious in sharing their experiences with addressing salinity on a watershed basis in Montana. The authors acknowledge the influence of their ideas on many of the technical and planning procedures adopted for the current project. Several individuals associated with the University of Alberta, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences assisted with technical aspects of the project. Dan Hemenway, unpacked and reformatted the DEM data used in the project and also provided a copy of his public domain software (DMMODEL) for creating 3D perspective views. Craig Coburn and Kai Bader were responsible for scanning and geo- registering the secondary source environmental maps used in the project. Kai also helped to produce a registered base map. Significant contributions by colleagues at AAFRD are also acknowledged. Hank Vander Pluym reviewed and critiqued many of the initial concepts and proposed solutions. His insistence on a systematic appraisal of the environmental and topographical controls on the distribution of visible salinity was responsible for the new method of estimating potential salinity hazard (PSH) that was developed for this project. The project relied heavily on previously prepared digital data depicting the location and extent of visible salinity provided by Jan Kwiatkowski and others at AAFRD. Gerald Stark, Longin Pawlowski and Ron Blize provided the digital base map data. Don Wentz contributed numerous suggestions, ideas and encouragement as well as participating in most of the field trips and planning meetings. Don Wentz and Keith Heggie were responsible for collecting field data to verify the location and extent of each type of saline seep in the study area and provided a map of land use for the test sub-watershed. The initial manuscript was reviewed, edited and prepared for publication by Carolyn King. Valuable review comments were also provided by Tamara Lewis and Ernie Ewaschuk. The DSCA, the County of Warner and AAFRD funded the project which led to the production of this Manual. Any deficiencies in this Manual are entirely the responsibility of the authors. i Contents Introduction................................................................................................................................................... 1 Purpose of the manual............................................................................................................................. 1 What is soil salinity? ............................................................................................................................... 1 Why is soil salinity a concern?................................................................................................................ 1 Why address soil salinity on a watershed basis? ..................................................................................... 1 Role of municipalities ............................................................................................................................. 1 How to use this manual ........................................................................................................................... 2 Municipal Level Module............................................................................................................................... 3 Municipal Level Policy and Planning.......................................................................................................... 4 Policy and planning objective ................................................................................................................. 4 Policy and planning activities.................................................................................................................. 4 Determine if salinity is a problem ........................................................................................................... 4 Develop policies, goals and targets ......................................................................................................... 5 Identify funding mechanisms .................................................................................................................. 5 Develop watershed-based programs........................................................................................................ 6 Develop a municipal level plan............................................................................................................... 7 Models for implementing salinity control plans...................................................................................... 8 Sample Questionnaire: Salinity Awareness and Concern ....................................................................... 9 Municipal Level Technical Activities ........................................................................................................ 10 Technical objective ................................................................................................................................. 10 Technical activities.................................................................................................................................. 10 Acquire the GIS digital database............................................................................................................. 11 Establish boundaries of natural watershed units...................................................................................... 13 Characterize watersheds.......................................................................................................................... 16 Prioritize major watersheds within a municipality.................................................................................. 19 Major Watershed Level Module................................................................................................................ 21 Major Watershed Level Policy and Planning........................................................................................... 22 Policy and planning objective ................................................................................................................. 22 Policy and planning activities.................................................................................................................. 22 Major Watershed Level Technical Activities ..........................................................................................