Helicopter Services for Idaho

Upon completion of the snow survey measurements, submit an invoice online via www.IPP.gov. Additional details will be provided in the contract documents. NRCS Snow Survey maintains an extensive automated (SNOTEL) and manual (Snow Course) data collection network in the Western United States and Alaska. Combined, the network encompasses nearly 2,000 remote snow measurement sites in mountain snowpack zones. Congress mandated NRCS (then the Soil Conservation Service) in the mid 1930's "to measure snowpack in the mountains of the West and forecast the water supply." NRCS Snow Survey now provides reliable and efficiently collected data needed to produce water supply forecasts and to support resource management activities across the Western US. The high-elevation watershed locations, broad coverage, and real-time operation of the network provide important data to farmers, researchers, river and reservoir managers, emergency managers for natural disasters such as floods and droughts, and for power generation. In some remote locations, private local contractors have been utilized to conduct critical manual snow measurements. The contractors have the wherewithal (over-snow travel equipment, snow samplers) and knowledge of local terrain to complete work in a timely manner. Additionally, local surveyors have many years of experience using a federal snow sampler, calculating snow-water-equivalent, and communicating results to the main NRCS Snow Survey office. These surveyors are unique in terms of the combination of location, equipment, and willingness. Lastly, data continuity between years is key to making NRCS Snow Data most useful and to decrease data uncertainty (error). Year-to-year data continuity is best achieved by utilizing the same surveyors as long as possible.