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A NATIONAL PROGRAM FOR MONITORING STREAM CONDITION IN THE WESTERN UNITED STATES
Citation:
Baker, J. R., W G. Kepner, D J. Chaloud, W. L. Kinney, M. E. Hamilton, AND K B. Jones. A NATIONAL PROGRAM FOR MONITORING STREAM CONDITION IN THE WESTERN UNITED STATES. Presented at 32nd Annual Meeting of Desert Fishes Council, Death Valley National Park, CA, November 16-19, 2000.
Impact/Purpose:
There are four basic objectives of the project:
Demonstrate the application of a comparative landscape assessment in analyzing the vulnerability of surface and coastal water conditions to declines based on landscape conditions (as estimated by landscape indicators as demonstrated in the mid-Atlantic landscape atlas) in western environments;
Develop and apply landscape assessment approaches relative to specific issues, including an ability to prioritize the vulnerability of areas relative to the Clean Water Act 303(d) designations; Quantify relationships between landscape conditions (as measured by landscape indicators) and surface and coastal waters in the west to reduce the uncertainty in comparative landscape assessments, and issue-specific, landscape assessments (e.g., Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDLs);
Complete a west-wide, comparative landscape assessment relative to surface and coastal water vulnerability;
Transfer landscape assessment technologies to Regional Offices so that they can conduct landscape assessments at many scales.
Description:
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently initiated a four-year survey of streams in the Western United States as a component of the Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP). EMAP is developing indicators to monitor and assess the condition of ecological resources at a regional or state level of scale. This is accomplished by randomly selecting sites and by obtaining a representative sample of biotic assemblages along with physical and chemical measures. These data are then used to estimate the biological integrity of the sites. Since the stream sites are randomly selected, the data collected can be used to make regional and statewide estimates of stream condition. States included in the survey are Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, North,Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. An overview of the survey design, logistics, sample design and a preliminary account of fishes from stream sites sampled in Arizona, Nevada, and Utah will be presented.