Oregon Indicators of Sustainable Forests Data Information and Reporting for Indicator D.a.

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Oregon Indicators of Sustainable Forests

Data Information and Reporting for Indicator D.a.

Oregon Indicator of Sustainable Forest Management D.a.
Water quality of forest streams

Forestry Program for Oregon Strategy D:
Indicator D.a. is one of three indicators that will measure progress towards achieving Forestry Program for Oregon Strategy D: Protect, maintain, and enhance soil and water resources of Oregon's forests.

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Other Indicators for
Stategy D Reporting

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Indicator D.b.

Indicator D.c.

Desired Trend
Water quality index values in forested Oregon watersheds are stable or improving.¹

^{_________________________________}

¹ The Oregon Progress Board has established the following statewide targets considering all land uses:

Seventy-five percent of momitored stream sites with significantly INCREASING trends in water quality (over 10 years)
Zero percent of monitored stream sites with significantly DECREASING trends in water quality
Forty-five percent of monitored stream sites with water quality in GOOD OR EXCELLENT condition (over 10 years)

At-a-Glance: Condition, Trend, and Information

Condition:	Trend:	Information:

Good	Uncertain	Partial

Why is this indicator important?

Soil and water are basic elements of forest productivity. Forest soils are also an important part of the regulation of surface and groundwater flow. The interaction of soil and water plays an important role in the health of the streams and rivers flowing through Oregon's forests.

Clean water is critical to our quality of life. More than half of Oregon's population depends on water supplies that originate on or are protected in part by forestlands. Oregonians depend on high-quality water for drinking water, fisheries, industry, recreation, and agriculture.

A variety of activities occurring on forestlands, including forest management (timber harvesting and road construction and use), fire suppression, recreation, and livestock grazing, can affect soil and water resources. Disturbances that trigger large erosion events can produce important changes in aquatic conditions. These episodic changes are critical in maintaining aquatic habitat over time.

What does this indicator tell us about sustainable forest management?

Condition:

Good

At the state scale, data collected between 1998 and 2007 indicate over ninety percent of the sampled sites on forestlands showed an Oregon Water Quality Index in good or excellent condition, and the remaining sites in fair or lower condition.

Water quality was highest in the Willamette, Middle Columbia, and Lower Columbia hydrologic units. Overall water quality in the North Coast was intermediate compared to the other units. The South Coast showed the lowest overall water quality.

Water quality is typically considered to be a major issue in several state hydrologic units, such as the Willamette. However, it is important to note these indicator results are reflective of conditions of forested lands only. Water quality was highest for generally higher elevation, higher stream gradient federal sites, with 97 percent in good or better conditions. State sites showed 89 percent in good or better conditions. Private industrial sites had 87 percent in good or better conditions. Private non-industrial sites, which are more likely to be intermixed with other land uses, had 77 percent in good or better conditions, and should perhaps be the highest priority for closer future study.

Two water quality measures, biochemical oxygen demand and total solids sub-indices, showed the lowest percentages of sites in excellent condition across all reporting units and ownership classes. Previous studies have shown high total solids to be a significant risk to stream biota. High biochemical oxygen demand and total solids can prove to be harmful to drinking water and impair biological condtions. Future monitoring using ecoregion reference sites to evaluate chemistry, rather than the Oregon Water Quality Index benchmarks, may lead to different conclusions regarding biolochemical oxygen demand conditions. (Hubler et. al., 2009)

A summary of water quality conditions based on Oregon’s Ambient Monitoring Network shows forest sites to generally have better water quality than observed on other land uses. (Cude, undated)

Trend:

Uncertain

Trend information is not available specific to forestlands. A long-term, random sampling design is recommended to improve forestland trend analyses. Statewide, since 2000, the percentage of ambient monitoring sites across all land uses with declining trends has been steadily increasing. The reasons for this decline are unclear and they do not appear related to land use. It is important to note that about half of the ambient sites statewide, and a much higher percentage of forest sites, continue to have “good” to “excellent” water quality and that has remained fairly consistent over the last 10 years. Increasing trends in water quality index have also been observed. On sites showing significant improvement that are not affected by point source discharges, such improvements may be attributed to reduced levels of non-point source activity, increased education about water quality impacts, and watershed restoration efforts. Underlying all of these factors is flow. As Oregon returns, in stages, from drought to the wet phase of the long-term cycle, flows and water quality improves. (Mrazik, 2008; Cude, undated)

Information:

Partial

Most of the water quality data were collected on a single site visit. The data do not represent the daily, seasonal, or annual variability of the conditions at a location. It is a snapshot of one period in time and its associated disturbances, natural and anthropogenic. However, when aggregated with hundreds of other sites to describe a larger spatial scale, some of the daily, seasonal and yearly variability is represented by using the site results as a sample that describes the larger spatial scale. These data also represent conditions primarily during the summer months and may not be representative of conditions throughout the year. While the data distribution was fairly comprehensive on forest lands across the state, a more rigorous probabilistic sampling is recommended for better landscape and trend assessments. (Hubler)

Types of information produced by this indicator

This indicator will produce tabular, graphical, and map information that integrate complex analytical water quality data and generates a single number expressing the degree of impairment of a given water body.

Map: Site Locations for Water Quality (OWQI) and Macroinvertebrate (Bugs)

This is a map showing the site locations sampling water quality (Oregon Water Quality Index) and macroinvertebrate (bugs)

Figure 1
Printable [JPG] map

Water Quality Parameters used in the Oregon Water Quality Index

Table 1. Water quality parameters used in the Oregon Water Quality Index.

Parameter	Units
Temperature	degrees C
Dissolved Oxygen	mg/l
Dissolved Oxygen Percent Saturation	%
Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD-5)	mg/l
pH	SU
Total Solids	mg/l
Ammonia	mg/l
Nitrate + Nitrite	mg/l
Total Phosphate	mg/l

Reporting Units

Table 2: Reporting Units (state and 3rd-field HUCs) and whether or not ownership was assessed.

Reporting Unit	Biological	Ownership
Oregon
North Coast
South Coast
Willamette
Lower Columbia
Middle Columbia
Lower Snake
Deschutes
John Day
Klamath	No forest sites
Oregon Closed Basins	No forest sites
Middle Snake/Boise	No forest sites
Middle Snake/Powder	No forest sites

Report: Conditions of Water Chemistry for forested sites across Oregon

Conditions of Water Chemistry for forested sites across Oregon. OWQI means Oregon Water Quality Index and Percent of forest lands sites in various condition classes for seven water quality parameters and the Oregon Water Quality Index. Summary results were not determined for hydrologic units or ownership classes with a sample size less than 20. (Hubler et. al., 2009).

	Condition Classifications			Condition Classifications
	Excellent			Poor
	Good			Very Poor
	Fair

______________________________________________________________________________________

Oregon

	Oregon	Federal	State	Private Industrial	Private Non- Industrial
Sample Size (Total=424)	424	237	88	80	49

Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD)
Excellent	64	71	39	64	49
Good	15	13	21	21	12
Fair	10	8	29	4	18
Poor	8	5	4	9	20
Very Poor	3	2	7	3	0
Dissolved Oxygen (DO)
Excellent	87	87	93	90	76
Good	7	7	4	6	12
Fair	4	4	4	3	6
Poor	2	2	0	1	4
Very Poor	0 (<1)	0	0	0	2
Nitrogen (N)
Excellent	87	95	61	80	80
Good	7	3	18	11	14
Fair	2	1	4	5	2
Poor	4	2	18	3	4
Very Poor	0 (<1)	0	0	1	0
Oregon Water Quality Index (OWQI)
Excellent	77	86	75	66	59
Good	14	11	14	21	18
Fair	4	2	4	5	8
Poor	4	1	7	4	12
Very Poor	1	0	0	4	2
pH
Excellent	95	94	100	98	92
Good	3	2	0	3	8
Fair	1	3	0	0	0
Poor	0 (<1)	1	0	0	0
Very Poor	0 (<1)	0	0	0	0
Phosphorus (P)
Excellent	76	81	86	68	63
Good	13	13	4	18	16
Fair	5	3	7	8	6
Poor	5	4	4	6	12
Very Poor	0 (<1)	0	0	1	2
Solids
Excellent	58	68	61	43	39
Good	12	14	11	10	16
Fair	9	8	4	13	8
Poor	16	10	21	28	20
Very Poor	4	1	4	8	16
Temperature
Excellent	90	91	100	93	80
Good	6	6	0	5	6
Fair	2	2	0	0	6
Poor	2	1	0	3	6
Very Poor	0 (<1)	0	0	0	2

______________________________________________________________________________________

North Coast South Coast

	North Coast	South Coast
Sample Size (Total)	75	105

Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD)
Excellent	53	66
Good	19	16
Fair	11	9
Poor	12	5
Very Poor	5	5
Dissolved Oxygen (DO)
Excellent	92	82
Good	5	9
Fair	3	8
Poor	0	1
Very Poor	0	1
Nitrogen (N)
Excellent	63	94
Good	16	5
Fair	5	0
Poor	16	0
Very Poor	0	1
Oregon Water Quality Index (OWQI)
Excellent	73	66
Good	19	15
Fair	4	8
Poor	3	9
Very Poor	1	3
pH
Excellent	100	94
Good	0	5
Fair	0	1
Poor	0 (<1)	1
Very Poor	0 (<1)	0 (<1)
Phosphorus (P)
Excellent	79	80
Good	12	9
Fair	5	6
Poor	4	5
Very Poor	0	1
Solids
Excellent	56	31
Good	16	16
Fair	11	10
Poor	17	29
Very Poor	0	14
Temperature
Excellent	84	89
Good	13	6
Fair	1	2
Poor	1	3
Very Poor	0	1

______________________________________________________________________________________

Willamette Lower Columbia

	Willamette	Lower Columbia
Sample Size (Total)	145	32

Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD)
Excellent	72	53
Good	12	16
Fair	7	22
Poor	7	9
Very Poor	1	0
Dissolved Oxygen (DO)
Excellent	94	94
Good	3	3
Fair	1	0
Poor	2	3
Very Poor	0	0
Nitrogen (N)
Excellent	91	75
Good	6	16
Fair	2	6
Poor	1	3
Very Poor	0	0
Oregon Water Quality Index (OWQI)
Excellent	88	78
Good	7	13
Fair	3	3
Poor	2	6
Very Poor	0	0
pH
Excellent	97	97
Good	2	0
Fair	1	0
Poor	0	0
Very Poor	0	3
Phosphorus (P)
Excellent	81	75
Good	10	13
Fair	5	6
Poor	4	3
Very Poor	0	3
Solids
Excellent	74	72
Good	8	0
Fair	7	6
Poor	9	16
Very Poor	1	6
Temperature
Excellent	95	97
Good	2	3
Fair	1	0
Poor	1	0
Very Poor	0	0

______________________________________________________________________________________

Middle Columbia

	Middle Columbia
Sample Size (Total)	20

Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD)
Excellent	70
Good	10
Fair	20
Poor	0
Very Poor	0
Dissolved Oxygen (DO)
Excellent	95
Good	0
Fair	0
Poor	5
Very Poor	0
Nitrogen (N)
Excellent	100
Good	0
Fair	0
Poor	0
Very Poor	0
Oregon Water Quality Index (OWQI)
Excellent	80
Good	20
Fair	0
Poor	0
Very Poor	0
pH
Excellent	95
Good	0
Fair	5
Poor	0
Very Poor	0
Phosphorus (P)
Excellent	85
Good	10
Fair	0
Poor	5
Very Poor	0
Solids
Excellent	40
Good	30
Fair	5
Poor	25
Very Poor	0
Temperature
Excellent	100
Good	0
Fair	0
Poor	0
Very Poor	0

Report: Oregon Water Quality Status based on WQI by Land Use

Figure 3. Oregon water quality status based on Water Quality Index, by land use, Water years, 1990-1999 (Cude, undated)

Evaluations by the Oregon Roundtable on Sustainable Forests on this indicator

Initial Roundtable evaluation of Indicator D.a.: Water quality in forest streams (July 27, 2010) [PDF; 5 pages; 200 KB]
Staff Response for D.a.: [PDF; 3 pages; 139 KB]

References and Reports for Indicator D.a.

Indicator D.a. Tables and Figures [PDF; 8 pages; 2749 KB]
Cude, C. (Undated). "The Oregon Water Quality Index (OWQI) - A Communicator of Water Quality Information". Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. Portland, Oregon. 6 p. [PDF; 1529 KB]
Hubler, S., S. Miller, L. Merrick, R. Leferink, A. Borisenko. 2009. High Level Indicators of Oregon's Forested Streams. Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, Laboratory and Environmental Assessment Division, Hillsboro, Oregon. 77 p. [PDF; 2582 KB]
Mrazik, S. 2008. Oregon Water Quality Index Summary Report: Water Years 1998-2007. Oregon Deparmtent of Environmental Quality, Laboratory and Environmental Assessment Division. Hillsboro, Oregon. DEQ09-LAB-008. 14 p. [PDF; 484 KB]

Metrics and Data Sources

Metric	Data Source
Physical/chemical properties (temperature, dissolved oxygen, turbidity of pH, phosphorus, nitrate, ammonium, total solids)	Oregon Department of Environmental Quality
Biological properties (bacteria, biological oxygen demand)	Oregon Department of Environmental Quality

Related State, National, or International Indicators

Montreal Process: Criterion 4—Conservation and Maintenance of Soil and Water Resources: Indicator 18: Area and percent of forest land with significant soil erosion: 2003 Indicator 23: Percent of water bodies in forest areas (e.g. stream kilometres, lake hectares) with significant variance of biological diversity from the historic range of variability; 2003 Indicator 24: Percent of water bodies in forest areas (e.g. stream kilometers, lake hectares) with significant variation from the historic range of variability in pH, dissolved oxygen, levels of chemicals (electrical conductivity), sedimentation or temperature change; and 2010 Indicator 21: Area and percent of water bodies, or stream length, in forest areas with significant change in physical, chemical or biological properties from reference conditions
Heinz Center: Nitrogen movement, chemical contamination
Northeastern Area: Water quality in forested areas
Oregon Benchmarks: Environment--79: Percent of monitored stream sites with (a) increasing and (b) decreasing water quality trends and (c) good to excellent condition.
Environmental Indicators for the Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds: Water Quality Index
Oregon State of the Environment Report: Proportion of monitored stream sites with good to excellent water quality according to the Oregon Water Quality Index

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