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Twenty one proposals were received from academic institutions located across
the State of Oregon. IWW awarded research grants totaling approximately $140,000
using a combination of funds from the US Geological Survey and IWW. Funded proposals
for 2006 are described below:
Building Capacity to Manage Conflict and Change through Oregon’s Water
Governance Structures
Principal Investigators:
Denise Lach, Associate Professor, Dept. of Sociology
Aaron Wolf, Associate Professor, Dept. of Geosciences
Oregon State University
Abstract:
Competing interests and values in water management have created contentious
situations that traditional water governance structures have increasingly found
difficult to resolve. Oregon has been a leader in developing innovative, place-based
structures to complement the agencies and institutions responsible for water
resources management. The proposed project is designed to (1) capture lessons
learned by the many experiments and projects currently underway in Oregon that
forge local partnerships in managing water conflicts and restoring water quality
and watershed health; (2) create a module-based curriculum that can be taught
as a graduate course to supplement the Professional Certificate in Water Conflict
Prevention and Resolution or as stand-alone training modules for local and regional
groups as appropriate; and (3) leverage a similar project in New Mexico to build
a conceptual model describing the capacities and resources needed by local governance
structures to develop stable solutions for local water problems. In the short
term, results of this project will enhance existing capacity of water professionals
and community members to resolve water conflicts. In the long term, the project
will provide the skills and opportunities for participants to become effective
partners in shaping a sustainable future for Oregon's water resources and watersheds
through enhancing its water governance structures.
Modeling Effects of Channel Complexity and Hyporheic Flow on Stream Temperatures
Principal Investigators:
Scott Wells, Professor, and Chris Berger, Research Associate
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Portland State University
Abstract:
Stream temperatures are affected by multiple forcing functions, including surface
heat exchange (including solar radiation, evaporation, conduction, and net long
wave radiation) and hyporheic flows. Each of these forcing functions is directly
influenced by the level of channel complexity in the stream channel and riparian
shading. Knowing that stream channel complexity has diminished over time in
the Willamette basin, an important question to consider is ‘what were
stream temperatures before we altered the natural channels?’ This is an
important issue in determining what natural conditions were and how we have
strayed from these so-called ‘natural’ conditions as a result of
channelization, dam building, and changes to the riparian vegetation and deforestation.
The current Oregon DEQ temperature TMDL relies on determining a ‘natural’
condition. In order to develop an understanding of what that is, a hydrodynamic
and water quality computer simulation model will be applied to the Willamette
river with several levels of channel complexity and varying rates of hyporheic
flows. Adapting the model used to develop total maximum daily loads (TMDL) for
temperature in the Willamette River, the effects of present and past channel
complexity on water temperatures will be determined. The model used to develop
the TMDL was the Corps of Engineers dynamic 2-D model CE-QUAL-W2, which consists
of directly coupled hydrodynamic and water quality transport models and simulates
parameters such as temperature, algae concentration, dissolved oxygen concentration,
pH, nutrient concentrations and residence time. The model also incorporates
a dynamic shading algorithm for both vegetative and topographic shading on water
bodies. A comparison of model results will indicate whether a more complex channel
configuration will reduce stream temperatures provided streamside vegetation
provides sufficient shade cover.
Collaborative learning towards sustainable agricultural landscapes in Muddy
Creek Watershed, Oregon
Download the final report from this project (PDF; 500k)
Principal Investigators:
Mary Santelmann, Assistant Professor and Director Water Resources Graduate
Program, Dept. of Geosciences
Hannah Gosnell, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Geosciences, Oregon State University
S. Mark Meyer, Faculty Research Assistant, Dept. of Geosciences
Oregon State University
Abstract:
Problem: The specific issue addressed here is the need to engage and collaborate
with private landowners to recognize, expand upon, and implement practices that
improve long-term watershed management. Agency professionals and university
researchers often lack specific knowledge of existing practices used by landowners
to meet environmental goals, and have difficulty engaging private landowners
in exploring ways to increase and broaden their participation in practices that
promote healthy watersheds. The proposed project will engage all participants
in community-building activities in support of education at Inavale School in
Corvallis, Oregon, and provide opportunities for landowners, university faculty,
elementary (K-8) students, graduate and undergraduate students to learn from
each other. This project addresses the water resource management need (from
Attachment B) for technology/information transfer to effectively disseminate
information from researchers to users.
Methods: In collaboration with local schools and landowners in a rural watershed,
our project will identify, document, and expand the use of sustainable practices
that balance stewardship of resources with economic viability. We propose an
innovative partnership between agricultural producers and students and educators
at both the K-12 and university level. Participants will collaborate in diverse
educational and community-building activities, and a series of events including
farm walks featuring sustainable agricultural practices, workshops highlighting
existing and innovative practices and ways to implement them, and the design
and implementation of on-farm pilot projects designed to improve water quality
and watershed management.
Objectives: Project objectives are:
1) to educate watershed residents about existing watershed management practices
that enhance water quality and quantity,
2) to build a culture of watershed stewardship,
3) to both expand the use of existing practices and explore, innovate and apply
additional practices that are likely to be effective in enhancing water quality,
4) to use the results of this project to inform students in the Land Use planning
course (GEO 423) and to develop curriculum for GEO 452, Principles and Practice
of Rural and Resource Planning in which students will collaborate with willing
landowners to develop sustainable designs for the landowner, and
5) to leverage additional funding for implementation and monitoring of on-farm
practices in partnership with local schools.
The proposed project will increase our knowledge about how resource demands
and supplies can be balanced for the long term by working directly with landowners
in rural communities to document and incorporate their local knowledge and existing
practices into plans for improving watershed management, and into development
and implementation of additional practices intended to improve water quality
and quantity. Students of all ages who become engaged now in learning about
sustainable watershed management will help shape the sustainable agricultural
landscapes of the future.
Evaluating the phosphorus dynamics in response to restoring historic hydrology
at reclaimed wetlands along Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon
Principal Investigators:
Desiree D. Tullos, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Biological and Ecological Engineering,
Oregon State University
Matthew Barry, Director, Williamson River Delta Preserve, The Nature Conservancy
Abstract:
Upper Klamath Lake (Oregon; UKL) is hypereutrophic due to phosphorus (P) loading
from both geologic and agricultural sources in the watershed. According to ODEQ’s
TMDL analysis, it is elevated P levels that drive severe algal blooms causing
pH and dissolved oxygen to often reach toxic levels for fish in the lake. Restoring
historic lake-fringe wetlands to provide P sinks around the lake is accepted
as a favorable means of reducing lake P levels and loading. However, the capacity
of restoration wetlands to sequester P is uncertain because of highly organic
soils in these areas that were drained and fertilized over the last century.
Previous studies demonstrated that dramatic P releases can occur after these
soils are reflooded presumably as a result of organic P mineralization. Our
study will quantify changes in form and concentration of soil P as and after
levees are breached and natural hydrology is restored to two reclaimed agricultural
fields adjacent to UKL. We will also measure changes in soil and floodwater
characteristics to better understand the mechanisms of P sequestration and release.
Globally, results will: (1) contribute to a more thorough understanding of wetland
phosphorous dynamics; and (2) target strategies to promote phosphorus sequestration
in restoration wetlands. Locally, these results will expedite water quality
improvements in Upper Klamath Lake by providing a foundation to develop management
strategies that sequester P in restored wetlands adjacent to UKL.
Squaw Creek Watershed Project
Download the final report from this project (PDF; 500k)
Principal Investigators:
Ronald Reuter, Asst. Professor, Department of Forest Resources
Oregon State University Cascade Campus
Lesley Jones, Water Quality Specialist
Upper Deschutes Watershed Council
Abstract:
The Squaw Creek watershed, which is designated as cold water fish habitat, experiences
high summer water temperatures associated with inadequate seasonal in-stream
flows that are due to agricultural demands. As a result, Squaw Creek has been
identified by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ) as having
impaired water quality and has been reported to the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) on the ODEQ 305(b) report 2004. This common watershed challenge
of high temperature and inadequate flow is indicative of challenges across Oregon
and is slated to be addressed within the Squaw Creek watershed by economic resources
and local state, and federal collaboration.
To address this common watershed challenge, the Deschutes River Conservancy
(DRC) utilizes water transactions and water marketing tools to meet preliminary
in-stream flow restoration targets that are un-evaluated for their ability to
improve water quality. Evidence of watershed scale water quality improvements
in Squaw Creek, due to the in-stream flow restoration, needs to be collected
in order to efficiently apply the DRC economic approaches that span the Deschutes
Basin. Working together, multiple local, state, and federal partners of the
Upper Deschutes Watershed Council (UDWC) have developed a watershed strategy
to be implemented as the Squaw Creek Watershed Project (SCWP). The SCWP is a
prototype project that evaluates the in-stream flow restoration efforts of the
DRC and the ability for these restoration efforts to address the impaired waters
303(d) listed by ODEQ and reported to EPA.
To implement the SCWP, Oregon State University (OSU) and the UDWC are proposing
the establishment of an OSU Graduate Research Assistant. Implementation of the
SCWP will provide valuable and needed water quality data for the ODEQ and EPA
and for in-stream flow restoration effectiveness monitoring along a watershed
scale that helps to better apply economic resources. In addition, the SCWP will
result in insights to be conveyed in courses as lecture topics, case studies,
and as a component of the Oregon Water Law and Policy seminar jointly offered
between OSU Cascades and OSU Corvallis.
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