Research Approach

Determination of erosion potential using RUSLE is often completed on a field by field basis depending on their characteristics, such as slope or soil type. With the advent of spatial analysis technologies, it is possible to analyze larger areas at resolutions finer than a field scale. These tools can perform many tasks over massive areas, historic and recent data can be collected in many different locations, times, and resolutions, and processed to be applicable to scales ranging from local farms to provinces. The ability to manipulate data in this fashion ultimately reduces the time, costs, and effort necessary to evaluate potential soil loss. This was shown in a similar study completed by Mersey & Willard (1999), which determined the potential soil loss for the Oued El Makhazine watershed in Morocco using the USLE. The initial steps of this study will be completed in a similar manner, generating soil loss maps from the collected data using the RUSLE model.

The methodology and research approach used in this report was tailored individually to each of our four objectives. These specific steps and processes are detailed in each of the following pages.

Objective 1

Objective 2

Objective 3

Objective 4