Assessment of riparian vegetation and wildlife habitat structure: north fork of the Gunnison River tributaries and lower Gunnison River tributaries

Prepared for: Delta Soil Conservation District.Includes bibliographical references

Recurrent Die-Offs of Adult Coho Salmon Returning to Spawn in Puget Sound Lowland Urban Streams

Several Seattle-area streams in Puget Sound were the focus of habitat restoration projects in the 1990s. Post-project effectiveness monitoring surveys revealed anomalous behaviors among adult coho salmon returning to spawn in restored reaches. These included erratic surface swimming, gaping, fin splaying, and loss of orientation and equilibrium. Affected fish died within hours, and female carcasses generally showed high rates (>90%) of egg retention. Beginning in the fall of 2002, systematic spawner surveys were conducted to 1) assess the severity of the adult die-offs, 2) compare spawner mortality in urban vs. non-urban streams, and 3) identify water quality and spawner condition factors that might be associated with the recurrent fish kills. The forensic investigation focused on conventional water quality parameters (e.g., dissolved oxygen, temperature, ammonia), fish condition, pathogen exposure and disease status, and exposures to metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and current use pesticides. Daily surveys of a representative urban stream (Longfellow Creek) from 2002–2009 revealed premature spawner mortality rates that ranged from 60–100% of each fall run. The comparable rate in a non-urban stream was <1% (Fortson Creek, surveyed in 2002). Conventional water quality, pesticide exposure, disease, and spawner condition showed no relationship to the syndrome. Coho salmon did show evidence of exposure to metals and petroleum hydrocarbons, both of which commonly originate from motor vehicles in urban landscapes. The weight of evidence suggests that freshwater-transitional coho are particularly vulnerable to an as-yet unidentified toxic contaminant (or contaminant mixture) in urban runoff. Stormwater may therefore place important constraints on efforts to conserve and recover coho populations in urban and urbanizing watersheds throughout the western United States

Biological effects of hyporheic zone restoration in an urban stream

Urban stream restoration can be an important tool for managing stormwater runoff. Fluxes between stream surface waters and groundwater occur in the subterranean interface called the hyporheic zone. Furthermore, the hyporheic zone serves as habitat for essential food web components such as macroinvertebrates. In an innovative approach, the City of Seattle incorporated hyporheic design elements into multiple floodplain reconnections projects within the Thornton Creek watershed in 2014. To evaluate hyporheic biological response, we have conducted annual monitoring of invertebrate and microbial communities to compare restored reaches, unrestored reaches, and reference reaches in undisturbed forested sites. Hyporheic invertebrate density and taxa richness were higher at restored than at unrestored reaches, and were comparable to forested reference reaches. We found that taxonomic structures of both invertebrate and microbial hyporheic communities were significantly different between restored and unrestored reaches. Functional testing determined that microbial heterotrophic production in hyporheic water was higher in restored than in unrestored reaches. In addition to annual monitoring, we attempted to speed biological recovery during the first year post-restoration by seasonally seeding one restored reach with invertebrates and microbes from forested reference reaches. Although there were limited changes in invertebrate or microbial taxonomic structure, we identified four aquatic invertebrate taxa that may have established in Thornton Creek. Our observations represent early biological responses to restoration that will be expanded with further monitorin

Classification of riparian plant associations of the Rio Grande and Closed basin watersheds, Colorado, A

Prepared for: the Colorado Dept. of Natural Resources and the Environmental Protection Agency, Region VIII.Includes bibliographical references

Classification of riparian wetland plant associations of Colorado: a users guide to the classification project, A

September 1, 1999

Civil governance in work and employment relations : how civil society organizations contribute to systems of labour governance

Civil society organizations (CSOs) attempt to induce corporations to behave in more socially responsible ways, with a view to raising labour standards. A broader way of conceptualizing their efforts to influence the policies and practices of employers is desirable, one centred upon the concept of civil governance. This recognizes that CSOs not only attempt to shape the behaviour of employers through the forging of direct, collaborative relationships, but also try to do so indirectly, with interactions of various kinds with the state being integral. Drawing on evidence derived from UK-based CSOs involved in work and employment relations, four types of civil governance are identified and characterized. By elaborating the concept of civil governance, and demonstrating how different types of civil governance operate, the research extends our knowledge and understanding of how CSOs, as increasingly prominent actors in the field of work and employment relations, operate within, and contribute to, systems of labour governance