Municipal watersheds attempt to balance growing and conflicting demands for water for human use and for ecosystems. The Mill Creek basin, a 295 km2 basin in southeast Washington, exemplifies these conflicts. Since the late 1800s, the City of Walla Walla has withdrawn water from Mill Creek for municipal use. However,...
The widespread fragmentation, channelization, and simplification of river ecosystems has had acute environmental impacts, including degradation of water quality and habitat and biodiversity loss (Vörösmarty et al., 2010). These concerns have incited an increased focus on reestablishing ecological and hydrogeomorphological functions and improving habitat that has been lost in riverine...
Three (3) streams with desired similar characteristics, located in the Blue River
Watershed in the Central Oregon Cascades, were studied to better understand the impacts
of forest harvest on stream temperature and aquatic habitat. Of the 3 designated streams,
North Fork Quartz Creek, Blue River Face, and Wolf Mann, only...
Windthrow has been studied extensively as a cause of mortality and as a landscape
disturbance agent in temperate forests throughout the United States. The effects of
windthrow mortality on stand species composition and structure, forest regeneration and
seral development have been well described at the site (e.g. single gap) and...
The installation of engineered log jams (ELJs) is a common river restoration practice, implemented to modify flow structure and increase hydraulic complexity for the benefit of streambank protection and fish habitat. However, few studies have directly assessed the effects of ELJs on flow structure and complexity. This study presents a...
Stream temperature response of first and second order streams to the Blue River Landscape
Study (BRLS), an alternative land management strategy based on historic fire regimes, was
analyzed in the central Oregon Cascades. The BRLS treatment prescription of a 50% canopy
reduction and low intensity burn was applied with a...
Childhood cancers are rare diseases that affect 188 children in Texas for every million born. Leukemia is the most common childhood cancer and accounts for roughly one third of childhood cancer cases. However, it is estimated that only 10% of childhood cancer cases can be explained by known risk factors....
The use of phenoxy herbicides is an established practice in industrial forestry,
particularly in the Pacific Northwest. Forestry herbicide use in this region has often been
controversial. To better understand the spatial patterns of herbicide use and the potential for
human health and environmental impacts, a landscape level perspective is...
Montane meadows comprise a small area of the predominantly forested landscape
of the Oregon Cascade Range. Tree encroachment in the last century in these areas has
threatened a loss of biodiversity and habitat. Climate change in the coming century may
accelerate tree encroachment into meadows, and exacerbate biodiversity loss. Multiple...
Parks help to build social cohesion within a community. Urban open spaces offer
a sense of place, act as the focal points for public gatherings, and provide an
opportunity for social networking (Francis, 2003; Hayward, 1989). While offering so
much they are also known to be places of disgust and...