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Title: An in-house manual for building APEX projects using ArcAPEX

Author
item Teet, Stephen
item Nelson, Amanda
item Verser, Jerry - Alan
item Moriasi, Daniel
item Steiner, Jean
item Starks, Patrick
item Gowda, Prasanna

Submitted to: Grazinglands Research Laboratory Miscellaneous Publication
Publication Type: Government Publication
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/1/2016
Publication Date: 9/26/2016
Citation: Teet, S.B., Nelson, A.M., Verser, J.A., Moriasi, D.N., Steiner, J.L., Starks, P.J., Gowda, P. 2016. An in-house manual for building APEX projects using ArcAPEX. Grazinglands Research Laboratory Miscellaneous Publication. Available:https://www.ars.usda.gov/plains-area/el-reno-ok/grazinglands-research-laboratory/docs/arcapex/.

Interpretive Summary: The Agricultural Policy Environmental eXtender (APEX) provides the foundation for water quality and natural resource analysis across a wide array of USDA initiatives, projects and programs. The model has been utilized in both the national Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) analysis and in many of the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) CEAP watershed assessments. In addition, it is included in the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) Conservation Desktop Streamlining Initiative toolset and serves as the foundation for the Nutrient Tracking Tool (NTT). Currently, the APEX model is being parameterized and validated to support nation-wide deployment of the NTT by USDA. ArcAPEX is one of the interfaces used to build APEX models. However, there is no step-by-step guide for using ArcAPEX to build the APEX models and available examples are based on ideal datasets assembled by the developers. Therefore, a manual was developed for use to assist with the building of APEX projects using the ArcAPEX interface in ArcMap in order to expedite the completion of the current nation-wide APEX parameterization and validation projects. The development of this manual s was accomplished based on over two years of troubleshooting use of ArcAPEX interface to build APEX projects. This manual is intended primarily for use by the USDA ARS personnel involved with building models to parameterize and validate APEX in various regions nationwide for use by NTT. However, the manual can also be used to build APEX projects for other purposes.

Technical Abstract: The Agricultural Policy Environmental eXtender (APEX) provides the foundation for water quality and natural resource analysis across a wide array of USDA initiatives, projects and programs. The model has been utilized in both the national Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) analysis and in many of the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) CEAP watershed assessments. In addition, it is included in the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) Conservation Desktop Streamlining Initiative toolset and serves as the foundation for the Nutrient Tracking Tool (NTT). Currently, the APEX model is being parameterized and validated to support nation-wide deployment of the NTT by USDA. ArcAPEX is one of the interfaces used to build APEX models. However, there is no step-by-step guide for using ArcAPEX to build the APEX models and available examples are based on ideal datasets assembled by the developers. Therefore, a manual was developed for use to assist with the building of APEX projects using the ArcAPEX interface in ArcMap in order to expedite the completion of the current nation-wide APEX parameterization and validation projects. The development of this manual s was accomplished based on over two years of troubleshooting use of ArcAPEX interface to build APEX projects. This manual is intended primarily for use by the USDA ARS personnel involved with building models to parameterize and validate APEX in various regions nationwide for use by NTT. However, the manual can also be used to build APEX projects for other purposes.