Willamette Basin rivers and streams assessment

Abstract

This report was written as a resource for water quality managers, watershed councils, municipalities and citizens to help understand the status of watershed conditions in the Willamette Basin. Our interpretations are based on chemical, physical and biological indicators at three different spatial scales: the basin scale, the subbasin scale and by land use categories. The data in this report were collected at randomly selected locations. Like a political poll, these locations represent the population of rivers and streams as a whole. It is not appropriate to interpret the information on an individual site basis. However, individual site data may be used for other purposes, such as indicating when water quality standards or other benchmarks are not met.