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Dictionaries and
Glossaries Water
Quality Fish & ESA Watershed Councils Conservation Organizations Consulting
Firms Note: Some of these web links (from last year) are broken. We are identifying them and fixing them as fast as we can. Also, if you have suggestions for links that should be added, send them to Pat McDowell at pmcd@oregon.uoregon.edu. Klamath Basin water and ecology crisis: Summary of issues surrounding the crisis in the Klamath Basin of southern Oregon. BPA and salmon: The low water-year we experienced last year stand to threatened salmon recover efforts for runs on the Columbia River. See American Rivers' webpage with links on the issue: http://www.amrivers.org/snakeriver/default.htm. Flooding: Flooding is a pervasive and ongoing problem in the U.S. and abroad. For some quick highlights, particularly the 1993 flood on the upper Mississippi River, see the Nova web page on floods. EPA Terms of the Environment: This is a good source for terms related to pollution and ecological problems. (http://www.epa.gov/OCEPAterms/). Watershed Glossary: From Purdue University's Know Your Watershed web page (http://www.ctic.purdue.edu/KYW/glossary/glossary.html). Good on hydrologic and geomorphic terms, not so good on ecological terms.
EPA Surf Your Watershed: This is the first place to start identifying a watershed and looking for information on your watershed. State agencies with water quality responsibility: Go to EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance web page (http://es.epa.gov/oeca/main/statetribal/state.html) for links to each state. Water Quality Report to Congress: EPA's Water Quality Report to Congress is the national overview and compilation of the states' 305(b) reports. This page provides links to the national reports from 1992 to 1998. State 305(b) reports (1998) and Unified Watershed Assessments: Several
different ways to find them... Finding designated uses for your watershed and water quality criteria for the state: Some state water quality agencies will have this information available through a link on their web page. You may find it listed in the state's 305(b) report. Or, you may need to go to the state laws/regulations to find it. Designated uses may not be the same for all the waterbodies in your watershed. Finding information on the point sources and NPDES permits for your
watershed: EPA's on-line Envirofacts data warehouse contains information
on individual NPDES permits. There are probably many, many NPDES
permits. The best way to search this database is probably by a specific
town (not a whole city) or zip code. (To find the zip code, enter a state and
city name on http://www.usps.com/ncsc/lookups/lookup_ctystzip.html.)
There are several ways to get into the Envirofacts database: Know Your Watershed: From Purdue University and the U.S.D.A. Has good info on water quality and TMDLs, a glossary, explanation of watershed addresses, upcoming conferences nand meeting, and national network of watershed partnerships, and the on-line National Watershed Library with books and pamphlets on many, many topics. Oregon water quality standards fact sheet: from Oregon DEQ Oregon DEQ water quality standards: This is a summary of Oregon water quality standards, in an appendix of the latest Oregon Water Quality Status Assessment report. About 15 different water quality parameters are listed. Interesting ones to look at are: biological criteria, habitat modification, sedimentation, temperature. EPA TMDL page: EPA web page explaining the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) program, a new approach to improving water quality under section 303 of the U.S. Clean Water Act. Oregon DEQ TMDL fact sheet: DEQ's explanation of the TMDL program in Oregon. Oregon TMDL plans: TMDL plans for specific Oregon watersheds. Includes both plans approved by EPA and plans in draft form, all downloadable. Oregon Agricultural Water Quality Management Act: ... Oregon Healthy Streams Partnership program: description from the Union County SWCD...
Fish and the Endangered Species Act ESA -- Anadromous Fish page of National Marine Fisheries Service: This is a good place to start looking for information on endangered anadromous salmon in the Pacific Northwest and California. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Endangered Species Program: This agency handles endangered species listings and recovery for non-marine and non-anadromous species -- terrestrial plants and animals, and freshwater aquatic species. This page provides a multitude of links regarding all policy and biological matters for species under the jurisdiction of the USFWS. ODFW Table of State and Federally Listed Endangered and Threatened species in Oregon. The Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds: Oregon's approach to restoring threatened and endangered fish. Oregon Plan IMST: This is the Independent Multidisciplinary Science Team, a group group based at Oregon State University that does research and reviews proposed rules related to the Oregon Plan.
Finding
information on threatened and endangered species in a specific watershed USFWS Threatened and Endangered Species System (TESS): You can look up listed species by state. From the state list, you will need to pick out the fish and other aquatic species. You can follow the link for each species to the USFWS web page on the species. Sometimes detailed range information is presented here. You may need a map of you watershed or the whole state to see if the species is in your watershed. On the USFWS web page for the species, you may find a link to critical habitat. This link may take you to the Federal register publication of critical habitat designation. Read this for a specific description of where this species is listed. NatureServe Explorer: This is a non-profit organization that has a web page with lots of info for most listed species in the U.S. and Canada. Search by species name. You can also get to this page directly from the USFWS web page for the species. Academic Universe: This is an on-line database of news stories. You can reach it by going to the UO Library web page, then Janus, then Journal and Magazine Articles, then General and Interdisciplinary. Try searching under the name of your river AND fish OR Endangered Species Act. If that doesn't work, try other variants. Make sure you search over a number of years (the default is last six months, too short). Print sources: Try an atlas of your state, nature guides, etc. Search the Library catalog in the usual way (including Orbis or WorldCat).
Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board: This is a sate agency that provides funding for and helps local watershed councils, as part of the Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds. Links to many watershed councils in the state are provided here For the Sake of Salmon: a government-supported organization that provides technical support for watershed groups working to restore salmon populations in Washington, Oregon and California. Has a list of watershed councils in each of the three states. Oregon State University Water Connection: a web page providing technical support from OSU faculty and extension agencies for Oregon watershed councils McKenzie Watershed Council: the watershed immediately east of Eugene in the western Cascade mountains. Long Tom Watershed Council: the watershed including Eugene and the area to the west. South Santiam Watershed Council: northeast of Eugene
Conservation
Organizations - This is only a partial list, see the American
Rivers' links page for a more exhaustive list. American Rivers - A national group located in Washington, DC that focuses on national issues. AR has a weekly news update email service that summarizes all river-related news stories; visit their website to subscribe. The River Network -- A national group that fosters grass roost river and watershed conservation groups in the U.S. Has produced a number of good reports and studies. The Center for Watershed Protection -- CWP focuses on restoring urban watersheds, and on providing model ordinances for local governments that want to improve their laws related to water resources. They are located in Maryland, and most of their activities and publications use east Coast examples, but their principles are applicable nationwide. The Nature Conservancy - TNC is known for its purchase of natural habitats and private lands with ecological value. They also have a rather large research branch.
International Rivers Network -- An activist group that works to halt destructive river development projects, and to encourage equitable and sustainable methods of meeting needs for water, energy and flood management. Focus on working against dams, in Asia, Latin America, and Africa. European River Network -- An NGO that promotes sustainable management of living rivers in opposition to the exploitation, pollution and degradation that has occurred in the past, and links organizations and persons working for the protection of rivers, including organizations from different fields such as environment, culture, education and human rights. Web page has information on river campaigns in Europe. Conservation International - CI primarily focuses on work in the developing world. They sponsor field investigations of aquatic biodiversity (AquaRAP) in South America. World Wildlife Fund - An international organization with national organizations in a number of countries, WWF has begun addressing freshwater conservation at the watershed scale around the world. Pacific Rivers Council - Based in Eugene, PRC focuses on conservation issues in the Northwest and increasingly on a national level. Water Education Foundation -- Located in California, this organization aims to be an impartial non-profit organization, to create a better understanding of water issues, and to help resolve water resource problems through educational programs. They work on both water quantity and water quality issues. Their focus is on California, the Colorado River, and the rest of the West. Oregon Trout - OT focuses on the protection and restoration of native wild fisheries and the ecosystems they need to survive. Oregon Natural Resources Council Other States Michigan Land Use Institute: A good story on the natural rivers movement in Michigan and watershed coalitions that are forming
last update: 02/23/04 04:12 PM
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