A Discovery Farm is an actual working farm or ranch whose operators are cooperating with local, state, and federal natural resource managers to demonstrate and evaluate the effectiveness of various management practices in reducing environmental impacts while maintaining farm profitability.

Watershed modeling at the Underwood Discovery Farm helps producers and researchers understand impacts of cattle management on local streams in Google Earth. Click each of the three links below sequentially to learn about this site. The first link will lead you to the local watershed, where you can see the catchment area. The second link will show you the stream lines, where water is likely to flow. Finally, the third link depicts the locations of three USGS stream gauge stations in Google Earth. The numbers next to each gauge indicates the area of land contributing water to that point in space. At the lowest point in the watershed is the station with the greatest catchment area (703 acres).

View Watershed Boundary

View Stream Drainage Lines

View Stream Gauge Stations and Flow Accumulation by Station

Producers can use this information to assess possible impacts of management on water quality.

Click here for more information on watershed modeling and flow accumulation.