The inter-relationships of vegetation, soils, and stream channel erosion characteristics were examined in two riparian meadows of the Ochoco National Forest where progressive stream headcut incision is a critical resource management issue and restoration priority. Scientific literature establishes that headcut incision leads to lower groundwater tables, with corresponding shifts in...
The Walla Walla basin lies in an arid region on the border of Eastern Washington and Oregon. A large portion of the area is devoted to agricultural production, relying on irrigation water diverted from the Walla Walla River and underlying aquifers occurring within Quaternary gravel and Mio-pliocene basalt formations. Heavy...
Pesticides are widely used to control undesirable pests and may be applied directly to water or lands directly adjacent to water. Pesticides are an option for habitat restoration but there can be unintended consequences to native, threatened and endangered species. There is very little information on the impacts of pesticides...
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...
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 decommissioning of dams, as an approach to restoring longitudinal connectivity and to managing aging infrastructure, presents valuable opportunities for organized study of channel responses to sediment pulses. Experiments with physical and numerical models suggest that rivers process coarse sediment pulses primarily through dispersion. In contrast, translation appears to be...
One important aspect related to the management of water resources under future climate variation is the occurrence of extreme precipitation events. In order to prepare for extreme events, namely floods and droughts, it is important to understand how future climate variability will influence the occurrence of such events. Recent advancements...
Ensemble Streamflow Prediction (ESP) provides the means for statistical post-processing of the forecasts and estimating the inherent uncertainties. On the other hand large scale climate variables provide valuable information for hydrologic predictions. In this study we propose a post-processing procedure that assigns weights to streamflow ensemble members using these large...
There is reasonable expectation that climate warming will accelerate the hydrologic cycle, resulting in greater evapotranspiration (ET) and reduced groundwater recharge (R) (or stream flow). Though qualitatively intuitive, quantifying these potential shifts in water budget partitioning is a contemporary challenge in hydrology, because the linkage between ET and R is...
In 2010 Oregon Environmental Council (OEC) embarked on a research effort to develop strategic, practical recommendations for advancing agricultural water efficiency in Oregon. While OEC’s report on this project will not be published until July 2011, we will share some of our initial findings at the Oregon Water Conference.
As...
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...
In January 2008, the Georgia Water Council approved the Georgia Comprehensive State-Wide Water Management Plan (GA Water Plan). The purpose of GA Water Plan is to guide the state of Georgia with managing its water resources in a sustainable manner. This means not only allowing growth in Georgia, but also...
“Exempt wells” are water wells that are exempt from one or more permit or other requirements in seventeen western states. Important policy considerations underlie the exemption, and only Utah does not exempt any water uses. However, some have expressed concerns about exempt water wells and the impact of the exemptions...
Oregon’s largest metropolitan region, Greater Portland, is home to a diverse array of water utilities though few have sufficiently robust water reuse and conservation goals. In determining the most beneficial way to allocate water-related public goods and natural resource management services, Oregonians are adapting to stronger legal standards among other...
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...
River flooding is a recurrent threat and its control and management continues to be a challenge. It has been recognized that effective flooding control requires a real-time strategy that combines optimization with a physically-based simulation model. Current real-time frameworks that combine simulation and optimization have two main drawbacks. The first...
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...
The City of Damascus, Oregon has a current population of nearly 10,000 people and expects to grow to 50,000 residents by 2060. On the eastern edge of the Portland metropolitan area, the City is located in the Clackamas and Willamette basins with an area of almost 12,000 acres. Semi-rural in...
Oregon is perceived as a water rich state; however, as the 2001 Klamath Basin crisis demonstrated, Oregon is not immune to water conflict and problems. Due to its seasonal fluctuations in water availability and geographical variation, Oregon can be considered a water scarce state, with the majority of surface water...