Monitoring In-Depth
Monitoring Activities:
Designs include temperature monitoring at every tributary mouth with the possibly of developing a network within larger tributaries. The mainstem network will be at TIR flight locations to complement future TIR data collection. A temperature network will be developed in conjunction with the groundwater monitoring plan.
PIBO Monitoring:
Pacfish/Infish Biological Opinion (PIBO) Monitoring is already occuring across the Malheur National Forest. This IMW study will add 10 more PIBO monitoring sites within the Middle Fork IMW. Five of the sites will be in the Camp Creek watershed to monitor restoration activities planned to occur under the Camp Creek Action Plan. Another five sites are proposed for funding through this project to complement watershed scale monitoring. No more than two PIBO sites will be monitored in any given year.
Channel Geomorphology Monitoring:
Channel morphology will be evaluated and a quantification of the scale and extent of change over time will be mapped at the watershed scale. Available LIDAR images and color aerial photography will be used to compare width, depth, and sinuosity of the mainstem from 1939 to present. If possible this assessment will be conducted in tributary streams as well. LIDAR images will be collected every 5 years and the monitoring group will use a GIS consultant to analyze changes in channel morphology overtime. Analysis will consider comparisons between historic, current, and future conditions with the intent of setting some measurable standards to achieve through restoration and management. LIDAR images will also be considered in the evaluation of monitoring the changes in riparian vegetation.
Groundwater Monitoring:
Middle Fork IMW plans include the establishment of a network of groundwater wells to monitor groundwater levels relative to restoration activities and water temperature. Several sites have been established by BOR for analysis and design on the Forest and Oxbow properties. The Nature Conservancy also has several on the Dunstan Preserve. Funding will be allocated through this project to increase this network at selected sites within the study watershed.
Macro-invertebrates:
Macro-invertebrate sampling will begin in the second year of the study. The first task is to summarize all of the existing data from OSU, DEQ and PIBO monitoring efforts and work up a study design and an estimate of what it will take to monitor macro-invertebrates at the watershed scale. Key questions will focus around whether or not monitoring macro-invertebrates at the watershed scale would provide for distinction between areas and the extent that macro-invertebrate levels are considered a limiting factor the recovery of salmonids in the watershed.
Economic Indicators:
An unique component of this IMW is found in the inclusion of economic indicators as one additional measure of restoration and monitoring success. The University of Oregon has an existing project in the basin which uses local community focus groups to establish indicators of economic importance and then tracks whether progress is being made toward them through restoration programs and projects. More work will be conducted in collaboration with the University to determine the role and study design for inclusion of an economic evaluation in the first year of the IMW.
