Sediment volume accumulated at unpaved dirt road stabilization projects on Culebra island, Puerto Rico from 2023-09-05 to 2024-05-28

This record provides estimate data of sediment accumulation at a number of dirt road stabilization projects where Best Management Practices (i.e. sediment retention ponds, check dams, and cross drains) were implemented to reduce terrigenous runoff and other land-based sources of pollution impacts to the nearshore marine habitats on Culebra Island, Puerto Rico. BMPs were strategically set up in priority watersheds to slow and divert runoff, prevent road scouring, and capture sediments to promote infiltration and reduce total pollutant loads. Data presented herein include the total sediment volume removed from the installed BMPs per road sediment, representing the total sediment volume accumulated and retained in-situ.

This data are part of the Culebra Land-Based Sources of Pollution Ride-to-Reef Monitoring Program; collected to estimate the amount of sediment (volume) accumulation at unpaved dirt road stabilization projects (BMPs: i.e., sediment retention ponds, check dams, cross drains) to evaluate the effectiveness of NOAA watershed management strategies and actions to reduce land-based sources of pollution impacts to the nearshore marine habitats of the island of Culebra, Puerto Rico.

Kitchell, A., B. Kuchar, and R. Viqueira Rios. 2021. Unpaved Road Standards for Caribbean and Pacific Islands. Prepared for the NOAA Restoration Center and Coral Reef Conservation Program. 71 pp.

Related guidance manual

Raw data include sediment accumulation volume in cubic meters at dirt road stabilization projects on the island of Culebra, Puerto Rico. Raw data also includes dirt road segments and GIS location coordinates where sediment accumulation data were collected.

While every effort has been made to ensure that these data are accurate and reliable within the limits of the current state of the art, NOAA cannot assume liability for any damages caused by errors or omissions in the data, nor as a result of the failure of the data to function on a particular system. NOAA makes no warranty, expressed or implied, nor does the fact of distribution constitute such a warranty.

We welcome the opportunity to collaborate on research issues contributing to the scientific basis for better management of marine ecosystems.

The following recommendations are for your consideration as you use this data:

1) Data analyses should take all field exigencies into account. The most effective way to do this would be active collaboration with principal investigators.

2) In all presentations, product releases, or publications using these data proper acknowledgement the individuals responsible for data collection is expected. Citing the DOI (if available) is preferred, a non-DOI example is listed below.

3) If you collect or generate data for the same study areas, CREP requests that you share relevant information on complimentary data collections.

Data can be accessed online via the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) Ocean Archive.

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Accumulated sediment volume was collected with a mini excavator and total cubic meters estimated based on volume of digging bucket.

GPS road segment locations were derived from digitized maps

Complete. All planned benthic cover and demographic data were collected.

Survey methods were consistent across all sites.

The quality control occurred at two major stages - 1) data entry and 2) data management. Data entry quality control included both review and manual error correction steps.

Culebra dirt road maintenance and BMP effectiveness