Monitoring helps track changes on the landscape that affect clean water, fish and wildlife populations, and the overall health of the 2,000,000-acre Upper Deschutes River sub-basin. The Upper Deschutes Watershed Council collaborates with local partners to conduct restoration monitoring and publishes water quality monitoring data on the Water Quality Regional Database.
Restoration Monitoring
The Upper Deschutes Watershed Council coordinates pre- and post-implementation monitoring for all of our habitat restoration projects to evaluate project success, learn more about restoration techniques, track long-term changes on the landscape, and strategically prioritize future restoration opportunities. The majority of our current monitoring efforts are focused on the Whychus Creek and Upper Deschutes watersheds, in concert with streamflow and habitat restoration projects aimed to support the reintroduction of steelhead and salmon.
We conduct monitoring at the watershed scale and at the project scale. Long-term watershed monitoring leverages data collected by local partners to track physical and biological indicators, providing insight into the status and trends of stream conditions. Project-specific monitoring of additional parameters allows UDWC and restoration partners to quantify how restoration actions are changing ecological conditions within restored reaches.
Watershed Monitoring:
Whychus Creek Restoration Monitoring
Middle Deschutes Restoration Monitoring
Water Quality Regional Database
From 2001 through 2009 the Water Quality Monitoring Program worked with more than 20 local partners to collect and analyze water quality data from over 200 stations across 18 watersheds in the Upper Deschutes Basin. Water quality data reflect the chemical, physical, and biological health of our watersheds and allow partners to track trends in water quality over time, evaluate the effectiveness of restoration projects, and identify emerging water quality issues that may affect watershed health and salmon and trout spawning, rearing and migration.
As of 2010, UDWC and our partners continue to monitor water temperature in association with streamflow restoration projects in the middle Deschutes River and in Whychus Creek. Temperature is a good indicator of key water quality parameters such as dissolved oxygen, is directly influenced by streamflow restoration, and is the limiting factor for reintroduced salmon and trout.
All water quality monitoring data are published on our Water Quality Regional Database to share information with local communities and provide a scientific basis for water resources planning, conservation, and restoration.
Please click here to access and search the Water Quality Regional Database.