Water Quality Monitoring in the North Coast and Cascades Network (NCCN)
The protocol will be implemented in all of the North Coast and Cascades Network (NCCN) parks.
Importance / Issues
Waters that vary within their natural ranges can typically support healthy aquatic ecosystems and most beneficial uses. The National Park Service (NPS) goal is that 99.3% of streams and rivers managed by NPS will meet State and Federal water quality standards. Some water bodies within NCCN are impaired or flow into an impaired water body. The NCCN parks support Threatened & Endangered species; maintenance of high water quality is critical for the maintenance fish and amphibian populations. Mount Rainier National Park (MORA), North Cascades NPS Complex (NOCA) and Olympic National Park (OLYM) all support large numbers of backcountry recreational users who have direct contact with and consume surface waters. And finally, unimpaired water flowing from NPS lands provide a high value ecosystem service to downstream human, fish and wildlife populations.
Monitoring Objectives
- Define status and trends of high risk waters
- Measure trends in reference conditions of selected surface waters
- Identify existing and emerging problems
- Support water quality management policy and program development
- Respond to emergencies
- Continue development and improvement of the understanding of the basic chemical, physical and biological processes that affect environmental quality
Potential Measures
Benthic Macroinvertebrates (BMI)
WRD Core - Conductivity, Alkalinity, pH, Dissolved Oxygen
Nutrients, Cations, Anions
Cross Section Profile
Sediment (Pebble Count)
Rapid Habitat Assessment
Torrent Evidence
Photo Point
Invasive Species
Management Applications
Some water bodies within NCCN are impaired or flow into an impaired water body. The abundance of these resources gives water quality a high ecological, management and legal significance for the network. These resources support a variety of threatened and endangered species and human uses, including contact and non-contact recreation and water supply. Due to their position in the landscape, these systems integrate the physical and biological characteristics of the watersheds they drain. This position puts them at an increased risk to a variety of environmental stressors. These stressors can include changes in flow regimes due to global warming, atmospheric pollution and more localized disturbances related to land management activities and recreational use. Some waters do not support, or only partially support, these uses due to impairment. When a watershed is constituted primarily of parklands, significant tangible management actions can be taken to improve the water quality when it is impaired and ensure that the high quality ecological services of NCCN are preserved. Implementation of this monitoring protocol will provide park management with the data necessary to make effective decisions to ameliorate poor water quality and maintain the high water quality standards of NCCN water bodies.
Protocol Development and Status
The NCCN Water Quality Protocol is undergoing NPS-PWR formal peer review, submitted June 11, 2010.Status and Trends
Not available at this time.
Contacts
Ashley Rawhouser
Project Coordinator, North Cascades National Park
(360) 854-7317
References