STEWARDS Watershed Data System: System Design and Implementation

A web-based, data retrieval application was developed (Sustaining the Earth's Watersheds, Agricultural Research Data System, or STEWARDS) as part of the USDA-ARS Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) to increase the availability and accessibility of scientific data to the research community. The STEWARDS application is GIS-based and couples temporal and spatial aspects of data collected from each site within a watershed. The STEWARDS database and software design accommodates research data with heterogeneous characteristics and format, and captures rich descriptive information that is important to understand the data from complex, dynamic research programs. The database includes soil, water, climate, land management, and socio-economic data from multiple watersheds across the U.S. and can provide data commonly needed for hydrologic modeling and assessments. The release of STEWARDS marks an advance in the research capacity for the ARS research watershed network by improving access to well-documented and consistently organized data and is becoming the prototype of additional data and software designs for other ARS research projects.