The Wolf Creek Restoration and Monitoring project is a large-scale restoration project that treated over 10 miles of stream with 900 logs and 3700 boulders over a two year period. Wolf Creek is a tributary to the Umpqua River west of Roseburg, Oregon. This presentation, designed for those involved in...
The elected County Commissioner-led Benton-Lane-Linn Water Resources Study Group evolved in early 2009 to help counties, their partners, and area residents understand, pursue projects and offer recommendations to governing bodies concerning the region’s water quality and quantity. The Study Group is building on 2009-2010 successes including community engagement to support...
Spatial patterns of summer streamflow in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon vary dramatically between the geologically distinct High and Western Cascade regions. A key control is the partitioning of water input between a fast-draining shallow subsurface flow network (Western Cascades) versus a slow-draining deeper groundwater system (High Cascades). These differences...
Across Oregon and other PNW states thousands of miles of rivers, streams and adjacent wetlands are chronically de-watered as a result of over-appropriated water rights. In Montana alone, chronic or periodic de-watering occurs in over 4,000 miles of streams across 381 different river or stream systems. The ecological harm resulting...
The Metolius River basin is a sub-basin of the Deschutes Basin within central Oregon. Considered one of the crown jewels of the state, this historically undisturbed basin drew attention in 2009 because the Oregon legislature designated the basin as the first Area of Critical State Concern (ACSC) under the state’s...
With the advance of climate change and growth of human populations and economies, the amount of freshwater in the world remains roughly the same as it has been throughout history. The amount economically available for human use is only 0.007% of the total, or about 13,500 km3, which is about...
The goal of the Whole Watershed Restoration Initiative (WWRI) is to restore natural functions of whole watersheds in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, while amplifying community-based partnerships focused on the strategic restoration of Pacific salmon and steelhead ecosystems. The WWRI partners (Ecotrust, NOAA Restoration Center, the U.S. Forest Service's Pacific Northwest...
Numerous sources of water resource data for Oregon can be found if one knows where to look. Traditional providers such as the US Geological Survey (USGS), the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), and the Oregon Water Resources Department (OWRD) have made great strides in recent years to make historical and...
In 2008 the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ) initiated a program to monitor Oregon’s surface waters and aquatic biota for the presence of pollutants that pose risks to human and/or environmental health. ODEQ’s Toxics Monitoring Program was first implemented in the Willamette River Basin (WRB) between 2008 and 2010....
In an effort to reduce suspended solids and organic carbon loading and to increase long-term groundwater recharge rates at Orange County Water District’s spreading basins, a pilot project was conducted to evaluate riverbed filtration as a technology to treat river water prior to groundwater recharge. A shallow under-channel lateral drain...
With the convergence of several economic, social, and environmental factors, dam removal has emerged as a feasible river management option. The Rogue River, located in southwest Oregon, is one of the few river basins in the United States to remove a number of large dams in quick succession. This paper...
Columbia River Basalt Group (CRBG) aquifers are commonly thought to be relatively flat lying, laterally extensive, and mostly confined, and therefore not likely to be directly connected to surface water. However, many of the CRBG units in south-central Washington and north-central Oregon were deposited within evolving synclinal structures of the...
While the negative effects of urban development on freshwater systems are well documented, impacts of human disturbance on water quality vary depending on land cover, local climate, and temporal and spatial scales of analysis. To better understand this variation, we analyzed water quality data for a total of 15 sites...
The McKenzie River serves as the sole source of drinking water for nearly 200,000 residents in Eugene, OR. The McKenzie River is also home to a number of threatened and endangered fish species. Whereas the majority of the upper watershed is forested, areas of rural development and agriculture occur along...
A key challenge for resource and landscape managers is to predict the consequences of climate warming on streamflows and water resources. Different approaches are being developed to forecast the direction, magnitude, and timing of future streamflow changes in specific landscapes. One approach that is being utilized in the Pacific Northwest...
Climate change is expected to dramatically alter the timing and quantity of water within the nation’s river systems. These changes are driven by variation in the form, location and amount of precipitation that will affect the temporal and spatial distribution of river source water over time. To manage the impact...
The USGS SPARROW model (SPAtially Referenced Regression On Watershed attributes) was used to predict the long-term, average loads, yields, and concentrations of total nitrogen and total phosphorus for stream reaches located in the Pacific Northwest (the Columbia basin, Puget Sound basin, and Pacific drainages of Oregon and Washington), and to...
In order to efficiently reduce toxic loading to the Columbia River basin, sources and pathways need to be identified. Little is known about the toxic loadings coming from wastewater-treatment facilities and stormwater runoff in the system. This study provides preliminary data on these sources and pathways throughout the basin. The...