Modeling Total Suspended Solids In the Rogue River Watershed (Michigan) for Future Buffer Implementation Projects.

Suspended solids are a pollutant affecting many waterways in the United States. Vegetative buffers are a best management practice that has been recommended by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to prevent suspended solids from entering waterways. The purpose of this study was to identify potential locations of high sediment loading within the Rogue River watershed (Michigan) in order to target the use of vegetative buffers to reduce further sediment loading. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s BASINS 4 environmental analysis pollutant load tool (PLOAD) was used to estimate total suspended solid loads in thirty subbasins located within the study area. The two subbasins with the highest predicted TSS loads were located around areas of urbanization (low, medium and high development) with low percentage of cultivated land. For example, PLOAD predicted a total suspended solid load of 56.2 kg/ha per year from subbasin N3, which had the highest percentage of development (36.4% of total land cover). In comparison, subbasin N9 was similar in size but had a higher proportion of land cover in agriculture (~84%); PLOAD predicted a total TSS of 14 kg/ha per year for subbasin N9. Other subbasins evaluated as part of the study that had a higher land cover in development use had higher PLOAD predicted TSS loads; therefore, the use of vegetative buffers to reduce TSS loads from subwatersheds of the Rogue River watershed may not be an effective management practice.