Use of water quality data for land management decisions: A case study in San Juan County, Colorado

San Juan County, Colorado is similar to other gateway communities bordering scenic public lands in the western United States. As a result of rapid growth, many of these areas have experienced increased real estate values and property taxes, supplanted traditional industries with service-oriented ones, and in many cases modified the attributes that drew people to these communities in the first place. Local land-use planners need tools to help guide policy decisions, and are charged with balancing the often conflicting influences of local history and culture, politics, economic goals, and science. I used water quality data as an indicator of ecosystem health, and produced sensitivity maps to aid in the formulation of informed land-use decisions.; This study builds on similar research conducted in neighboring San Miguel County. Extensive field surveys were undertaken in priority drainages throughout San Juan County to map spatial distribution and aerial extent of landscape types during the summers of 2003 and 2004. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...