Project
Using National Hydrography Linked Data to Better Understand Wild and Scenic River Protections
About Alex
Alex Hurtado is a 3rd year student at Front Range Community College (Larimer Campus) pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Geography. Alex has had former experience with outreach, working as the Visibility Coordinator for the Climate Reality Project Campus Corps at Colorado State University in 2016. Through this experience, Alex gained a sense of stewardship for the land and was interested in furthering her education on the physical sciences to better understand the systems she hopes to protect. The Geo-Launchpad internship was a firsthand experience of the research side of science and exposed Alex to data management tools such as Python, QGIS, and Google Earth Pro. Alex worked with her mentor, Daniel Wieferich, at the U.S. Geological Survey on a project that linked the National Hydrography Dataset Plus Version 2 to the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. This linkage will provide a better understanding of the hydrologic network in the lower 48 to provide insight for improved future and effective designations.