Urban and rural-residential area land uses in Oregon: a synthesis of an IMST technical workshop on watershed functions and salmonid recovery

On June 21-22, 2011, the Independent Multidisciplinary Science Team (IMST) hosted a technical workshop for local and regional natural resource managers and practitioners in urban and rural-residential land uses. The purpose of the workshop was to discuss management and rehabilitation actions in developed areas that could improve watershed functions, aquatic habitats, and salmonid populations. This workshop was designed to follow up and expand on key findings from IMST’s 2010 report titled Urban and Rural-residential Land Uses: Their role in Watershed Health and the Rehabilitation of Oregon’s Wild Salmonids Workshop invitees, representing municipal, county, and state agencies, non-governmental organizations, and universities, were selected to reflect experience in managing, monitoring,and/or rehabilitating salmonid and aquatic habitats in urban and rural-residential areas. Invitees were also chosen to represent the varied geographic areas in Oregon.The findings from the workshop are intended to help the State of Oregon and local governments better understand the technical issues regarding, and impediments to implementing, plans for minimizing development impacts on water quality, watershed hydrology, and aquatic ecosystems.The synthesis was prepared by Kathy Maas-Hebner (Oregon State University and Lead IMST Technical Support) and the members of the IMST, Alan Yeakley, Nancy Molina, Carl Schreck, Bob Hughes, Clint Shock, and Vic Kaczynski). The draft report was reviewed by participants and comments were incorporated as appropriate. The final draft was unanimously adopted at the May 31, 2012 IMST public meeting

Urban and rural-residential land uses : their role in watershed health and the rehabilitation of Oregon's wild salmonids

Urban areas currently cover a small fraction of Oregon’s landscape but will expand to accommodate an increasingly large proportion of the state’s growing population and economic activity. Residential developments on rural lands now cover more than twice the area occupied by Oregon’s urban developments and are growing rapidly. Oregon urban and rural-residential developments are frequently located along streams, rivers, estuaries, and coasts. Associated landscape alterations in these areas can impair aquatic ecosystems in a variety of ways. In the Pacific Northwest, there is a growing understanding that aquatic habitat affected by development is important for salmonid populations. This technical report by the Independent Multidisciplinary Science Team (IMST) is a comprehensive review of how human activities in urban and rural-residential areas alter watershed functions, aquatic ecosystems, and the potential implications for salmonid recovery in Oregon. The report focuses on the effects of urban and rural-residential development on Oregon’s watersheds and native wild salmonids; actions that can be used to avoid or mitigate undesirable changes to aquatic ecosystems near developed areas; actions that could facilitate the recovery of salmonid populations in areas affected by development; and the effectiveness of salmonid habitat rehabilitation actions within established urban and rural residential areas.Keywords: toxic chemicals and pollution, fish habitat, restoration, rehabilitation, enhancement and mitigation, wastewater, hydrology, stormwater, salmon, fish passage, water quality, salmonids, low impact development, trout, watershed function, effectiveness monitorin

Scientific Review in Oregon: A summary of the Independent Multidisciplinary Science Team's Technical Workshop

This report synthesizes the findings of a workshop, held by Oregon’s Independent Multidisciplinary Science Team (IMST) in January, 2015, to discuss state-level science review and how to best formulate a panel to conduct scientific review of a broad suite of natural resources management activities for the state of Oregon. Invited participants included representatives of most of the state’s natural resource agencies as well as others with familiarity of review systems. The workshop identified numerous benefits of scientific review, grouped in four categories: the benefits of the scientific process; a contribution to more ethical behavior; an ability to overcome institutional limitations; and the role in helping inform and facilitate policy decisions. The workshop compared and contrasted five different models of scientific review that operate at either state or national levels. Aspects of the panels that were compared included: appointing authorities; committee selection criteria and process; funding sources; productivity; level of financial support for staff and panelists; and peer review requirements

Watershed and Aquatic Habitat Effectiveness Monitoring: A Synthesis of a Technical Workshop

On April 18 and 19, 2006, the Independent Multidisciplinary Science Team (IMST) and the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB) jointly convened a technical workshop in Corvallis, Oregon on effectiveness monitoring of aquatic habitat and watershed restoration activities. The immediate goal of the workshop was to create an opportunity for monitoring experts and practitioners (scientists, local watershed representatives, and resource specialists) to exchange ideas about effectiveness monitoring of restoration efforts. The longer-term goal for the workshop was to provide background material for the IMST to organize scientific information regarding effectiveness monitoring for ecological restoration activities. OWEB could then use that guidance to evaluate the effectiveness of its restoration programs and to better allocate resources to activities that further the goal of the Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds. This report is a synthesis of the workshop discussions.This is a synthesis of workshop notes to reflect the collection of ideas and concepts discussed on the days of the workshop. It does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the IMST, OWEB or any individual workshop participant. Information on report preparation is included in the report.Keywords: upland area condition, aquatic habitat, Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds, water quality, salmon habitat, riparian area condition, ecological restoration, effectiveness monitoring, watershed healt

Recovery of Wild Salmonids in Western Oregon Lowlands

This report discusses major characteristics of western Oregon’s lowland rivers, streams, and estuaries that the IMST finds to be important to wild salmonids. IMST describes how landscape scale factors (landscape structure, landscape function, disturbance regimes, and landscape scale biological processes) historically supported salmonid populations in western Oregon lowlands. The report also covers human modifications to these ecosystems that impact salmonids. IMST assesses how lowland land use practices may have altered lowland systems so that the landscape’s ability to support healthy salmonid populations was reduced. Finally, IMST discusses how functioning lowland ecosystems might be protected and restored. The geographic scope of this report is the lowland portion of Oregon west of the crest of the Cascade Range. This area stretches from the lower Columbia River south to the Siskiyou Mountains and includes estuaries, coastal lakes, and alluvial rivers and valleys that provide potential habitat for wild salmonids. In addition to major rivers, this report covers the many small tributaries and streams in western Oregon lowlands.This report was prepared by the Independent Multidisciplinary Science Team to the Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds.Keywords: land management, western Oregon, Willamette Valley, estuaries, low elevation, salmon, agriculture, riparian areas, restoration, aquatic habitat, Oregon coast, fish passage, water quality, hydrology, rivers, non-urban land us

Considerations for the use of ecological indicators in restoration effectiveness evaluation

This report focuses on the use of ecological indicators to evaluate ecological restoration effectiveness, particularly restoration aimed at salmonid recovery and watershed restoration efforts under the Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds. Part 1 addresses conceptual issues including how indicators can be linked to monitoring, how conceptual models can be incorporated into indicator frameworks, determining monitoring questions and selecting indicators, and inferring cause and effects from indicators. Part 2 discusses technical and analytical challenges that may arise when using indicators. Part 3 discusses how indicators can be used to report and describe status and trends of ecosystem health. The appendices includes a summary of large-scale restoration efforts and the indicators these programs have used in the United States. These case studies include the Chesapeake Bay Program, South Florida Ecosystem Restoration, CALFED Bay-Delta Program, and Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.This report was written by the Independent Multidisciplinary Science Team (IMST) of the Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds. Information on report preparation and external review are included in the report

Evaluation of Responses to IMST Recommendations : Administrative report 2009-1

Oregon Revised Statute (ORS) 541.409, which created the Independent Multidisciplinary Science Team (IMST), specifies that agencies are to respond to the recommendations of the IMST, stating “(3) If the Independent Multidisciplinary Science Team submits suggestions to an agency responsible for implementing a portion of the Oregon Plan [for Salmon and Watersheds], the agency shall respond in writing to the team explaining how the agency intends to implement the suggestion or why the agency does not implement the suggestion. The Team shall include any agency responses in its report to the Joint Legislative Committee on Salmon and Stream Enhancement”. For this reason, the IMST has explicitly identified its suggestions as recommendations and has directed them to specific agencies or entities. The IMST’s recommendations are included in final Technical Reports, Letter Reports and letters and deal with technical and scientific matters that the Team feels are important for the Oregon Plan. In this report, IMST includes responses to letter reports issued in 2007 and 2008 that were not included in the last Administrative Report. As with the previous Administrative Reports, IMST briefly evaluates each response and indicates if scientific and technical perspectives strongly suggest additional consideration of the recommendation.A report of the Independent Multidisciplinary Science Team, Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds

Evaluation of Research Priorities for the Oregon Plan, 2001-2003

The Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds, Technical Reports from the Independent Multidisciplinary Science Team (IMST) and numerous other documents identify an extensive array of research needed to recover depressed stocks of wild salmonids in Oregon. The limitation of such listings is that they do not prioritize the research needs, making them appear equally important. Given limited resources, a focus on the higher priority needs would increase the likelihood of success of the Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds. The 1999 Oregon Legislature's Joint Legislative Committee for Stream Restoration and Species Recovery and, independently, the Director of the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board requested that the IMST identify the higher priority research needed to help ensure salmonid recovery. This IMST Report identifies priority areas for research and puts them in broad priority groupings (highest, high, moderate, and low). The priority categories emphasize when specific research topics should be addressed, not if, since they are all important.This report was prepared by the Independent Multidisciplinary Science Team to the Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds.Keywords: monitoring, Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watershed, Researc

Oregon's Water Temperature Standard and its Application: Causes, Consequences, and Controversies Associated with Stream Temperature

Oregon water temperature standards were described by former Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber’s Office as “an important component of the water quality element of the Oregon Plan [for Salmon and Watersheds]”. In 1998, Governor Kitzhaber’s Office and the Oregon Legislature asked the Independent Multidisciplinary Science Team (IMST) to examine and review the scientific basis of Oregon’s water quality standards for temperature. This report was prepared to address this specific request and to address some of the major concerns about stream temperature that have arisen in Oregon. To accomplish this goal, IMST discusses the answers to science questions that the IMST deemed to be relevant to this charge and important to accomplishing the goals of the Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds. The IMST’s primary focus was “non-point” sources of elevated temperature in streams and cumulative sources from across Oregon’s landscape. While this request was initiated based on concerns surrounding the 1996 temperature standards, the discussions in this report are completely applicable to the recently adopted 2003 temperature standards.This report was prepared by the Independent Multidisciplinary Science Team of the Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds.Keywords: Clean Water Act, total maximum daily load, water temperature standard, hydrology, riparian vegetation, monitoring, watershed function, HeatSource model, aquatic habitat restoration, land management, salmon, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, beneficial use

Defining and evaluating recovery of OCN coho salmon stocks: implications for rebuilding stocks under the Oregon Plan : summary of a workshop organized by the Independent Multidisciplinary Science Team, August 4-5, 1999

The Independent Multidisciplinary Science Team (IMST) convened 19 regional leaders in salmon management and research in a workshop on Goals for Recovery of Oregon Coastal Native (OCN) Stocks on August 4-5, 1999. The main purposes of the workshop were to 1) define the concept of recovery and 2) to identify criteria for evaluating recovery. Although the focus of the workshop was OCN coho salmon, the definitions and criteria for recovery apply to all wild, native salmonid species and populations. This report summarizes the conclusions and recommendations from the workshop.This report was written by the Independent Multidisciplinary Science Team of the Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds.Keywords: coho salmon, commercial harvest, Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds, habitat, commercial fisheries, Endangered Species Act, monitoring, risk of extinction, Pacific Fisheries Management Council, recovery, Oregon coastal natural coh