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MONITORING STREAM CONDITION IN THE WESTERN UNITED STATES
Citation:
Kepner, W G., J. R. Baker, D J. Chaloud, W. L. Kinney, M. E. Hamilton, AND K B. Jones. MONITORING STREAM CONDITION IN THE WESTERN UNITED STATES. Presented at 32nd Annual Meeting of the 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 Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP) is a national research program to develop the tools necessary to monitor and assess the- status and trends of ecological resources. EMAP's goal is to develop the scientific understanding for translating environmental monitoring data from multiple spatial -and temporal scales into assessments of ecological condition and forecasts of the future risks to the sustainability of our natural resources. To accomplish its goals the ENIAP program has initiated a large regional aquatic study across the western United States (Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming). EMAP will combine ecological indicators (fish, macroinvertebrate and periphyton assemblages; riparian and in-stream physical habitat; water chemistry) with a statistical sampling strategy over a five-year period to demonstrate the application of core monitoring and assessment tools. It is anticipated that.information gathered from the EMAP Western Pilot Study program will assist environmental managers and decision-makers in understanding stream ecological function in relation to human influence. Additionally, we expect that EMAP monitoring data measured over time could be incorporated into large-scale trend assessments to determine the changing conditions of our nation's environment. This poster provides an overview of the sample design and indicator approach for stream sites sampled in Arizona, Nevada, and Utah.