Title:

Research map showing vulnerability of Wisconsin landtype associations to increased flood flows

Author(s):

Higgins, Dale A.; Donner, Deahn M.; Fowler, Jessica R.

Publication Year:

2025

How to Cite:

These data were collected using funding from the U.S. Government and can be used without additional permissions or fees. If you use these data in a publication, presentation, or other research product please use the following citation:

Higgins, Dale A.; Donner, Deahn M.; Fowler, Jessica R. 2025. Research map showing vulnerability of Wisconsin landtype associations to increased flood flows. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2025-0026

Abstract:

Areas with landform characteristics that lead to more rapid runoff are expected to be more vulnerable to increases in flood flows from more intense rainfall in the future. Those characteristics include fine-grained soils, low storage in terms of lakes and wetland, steep slopes, and high drainage densities. Landform characteristics that attenuate runoff include coarse-grained soils, high storage, gentle terrain, and low drainage densities. Groundwater recharge tends to be a dominant hydrologic process in such areas which are expected to be more resilient to increases in future flood flows. Landtype associations (LTAs) are ecological units that relate closely with characteristics affecting runoff. A case study from the July 2016 northwest Wisconsin flood regarding the design of flood resilient road-stream crossings used LTAs to classify the vulnerability of landforms in Wisconsin to increases in flood flows. Each LTA was classified as either vulnerable, moderately vulnerable, moderately resilient, or resilient based on their characteristics and results from the case study. The classification relied on professional judgement guided by the drainage density and storage for each LTA while considering the flood flows observed at nearby U.S. Geological Survey gaging stations. This data publication contains the LTA vulnerability classifications as a geodatabase and shapefile. Identifying areas that are more vulnerable or resilient to future flood flow increases will help planners and project designers improve the flood resilience of road-stream crossings.

Keywords:

environment; inlandWaters; Ecology, Ecosystems, & Environment; Hydrology, watersheds, sedimentation; Natural Resource Management & Use; Engineering, roads, bridges; floods; flows; vulnerability; landtype association; Wisconsin

Related publications:

• Higgins, Dale A.; Donner, Deahn M. Unknown. Designing flood resilient road-stream crossings: a case study from the July 2016 northwest Wisconsin flood. General Technical Report. Madison, WI: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station. [In press].

Metrics:

Visit count : 9 0
Download count: 1
More details

Data Access:

• View metadata (HTML)
• View file index (HTML), which lists all files in this data publication and short description of their contents
• Download all files below for the complete publication:
  • RDS-2025-0026_Metadata_Fileindex.zip (15.71 KB; Checksum)
  • RDS-2025-0026.zip (8.39 MB; Checksum)

Need information about Using our Formats?