Integrated Water Quality Annual Report 2008

The Upper Columbia Basin Network (UCBN) has identified 14 priority park vital signs, indicators of ecosystem health, which represent a broad suite of ecological phenomena operating across multiple temporal and spatial scales. The author's intent is to monitor a balanced and integrated "package" of vital signs that meets the needs of current park management, but will also be able to accommodate unanticipated environmental conditions in the future. Water quality is a particularly high priority vital sign for six of the nine UCBN parks. The UCBN contains more than 34 rivers, streams, ponds and reservoirs located in nine park units spread over four large western states. Unlike many National Parks that are large and often encompass entire watersheds, most UCBN parks and water bodies are small and embedded in large watersheds with diverse land use. Water quality in most UCBN water bodies has not been directly assessed, though most streams are listed as impaired by states for at least one parameter. This annual report details the status of key indicators of water quality obtained from the first season of monitoring in NEPE and WHMI, 2008. Note that several of the appendices in this report are primarily intended for UCBN internal reference. This season was considered a pilot year, and the author tested a draft protocol that was submitted for peer review in spring 2008. The protocol was accepted with minor revisions and was re-submitted for review in January 2009.