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Upper Mississippi River Restoration Future Hydrology Meeting Series

Open-File Report 2025-1050
Prepared in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
By:  and 
https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20251050

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Abstract

The Upper Mississippi River Restoration (UMRR) program, a broad partnership of State and Federal agencies administered by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, integrates ecosystem monitoring, research, and modeling to rehabilitate habitat and evaluate ecosystem trends over time in the Upper Mississippi River System. Hydrologic data are integral to the UMRR program because they are used in scientific research, decision-making, and restoration project planning. However, a lack of quantitative hydrologic data representing potential future conditions limits the ability to complete informative research on how future conditions may affect river ecology, achieve management goals, and design restoration projects for 50-year horizons.

The U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers led a series of workshops with UMRR partners to (1) prioritize needs for understanding future hydrology, (2) discuss appropriate datasets that could address these needs, and (3) develop a plan for acquiring and distributing a hydrologic dataset of potential future conditions. Agency priorities for understanding future hydrology were broad, spanning ecologic, geomorphic, resource management, and engineering disciplines, and were identified for a range of spatial (project site, navigation pool, reach, system) and temporal (daily, seasonal, annual) scales. The LOcalized Constructed Analogs-Variable Infiltration Capacity-mizuRoute hydrologic data products were identified as a potential source of off-the-shelf data to meet UMRR priority needs but warranted a robust quantitative evaluation. The final meeting in the series scoped a proposal to evaluate the LOcalized Constructed Analogs-Variable Infiltration Capacity-mizuRoute hydrologic data products for use in UMRR applications, including contingencies if the data were determined to be unreliable.

Plain Language Summary

A series of workshops was held so participants from several agencies could work together to prioritize needs for understanding future hydrologic scenarios, discuss appropriate datasets that could address these needs, and develop a plan for acquiring and distributing a hydrologic dataset representing potential future conditions. Agency priorities for understanding future hydrology spanned ecologic, geomorphic, resource management, and engineering disciplines and were identified for a range of spatial (project site, navigation pool, reach, system) and temporal (daily, seasonal, annual) scales. Participants described desired characteristics of a hydrologic dataset of potential future conditions that could meet agency priority needs and developed a workflow to evaluate a readily available data product.

Suggested Citation

Van Appledorn, M., and Sawyer, L., 2025, Upper Mississippi River Restoration future hydrology meeting series: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2025–1050, 93 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20251050.

ISSN: 2331-1258 (online)

Study Area

Table of Contents

  • Preface
  • Acknowledgments
  • Abstract
  • Plain Language Summary
  • Introduction
  • Purpose and Scope
  • Methods
  • Meeting Discussions and Outcomes
  • Discussion
  • Summary
  • References Cited
  • Appendix 1. Participant List
  • Appendix 2. Compiled Responses to Homework Activities
  • Appendix 3. Meeting 1 Agenda and Outcomes
  • Appendix 4. Meeting 2 Agenda and Outcomes
  • Appendix 5. Meeting 3 Agenda and Outcomes
Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Upper Mississippi River Restoration future hydrology meeting series
Series title Open-File Report
Series number 2025-1050
DOI 10.3133/ofr20251050
Publication Date September 22, 2025
Year Published 2025
Language English
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Publisher location Reston, VA
Contributing office(s) Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center
Description vii, 93 p.
Country United States
State Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Wisconsin
Other Geospatial Upper Mississippi River system
Online Only (Y/N) Y
Additional Online Files (Y/N) N
Additional publication details