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| In Idaho... Monitoring the Benefits of Streamflow |
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| (click on the graph for larger view) |
Monitoring the benefits of streamflow on habitat involves experimenting with different approaches to learn what is most practical and affordable under a range of complex conditions. For instance, some of the CBWTP's partners conduct “snorkel surveys” in streams that are of sufficient size, making an underwater assessment before and after a transaction to document whether targeted fish species are present. Another approach relies on long-term photo points that reveal the qualitative differences between a dry and a wet stream, but can also provide a digital analysis of changes in vegetative cover.
In 2007, the Idaho Department of Water Resources (IDWR) completed a pilot project in the Upper Salmon River Basin with funding and field support from the Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Geological Survey. Using the Physical Habitat Simulation Model (PHABSIM), biologists collected data along stream reaches in a single season under three different flow conditions. The resulting information correlated how changes in flow affect the availability of habitat for individual species of adult spawning and rearing fish.
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| In Montana... An Integrated Approach to Restoration |
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“We wanted to demonstrate that we could enter into arrangement where agriculture and fisheries could both thrive.”
– Randy Mannix, Rancher
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“It's not necessarily the case that more water leads to measurable biological benefits, "argues Stan Bradshaw with Trout Unlimited – Montana Water Project." Water without habitat doesn't buy you much. Conversely, restoring habitat without addressing the transactional work puts ecological outcomes at risk. We have to be looking at the whole picture"
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| (click on the graph for larger view) |
Stan sees the Wasson Creek partnership as an example of "an integrated approach." In 2007, with continued support from the CBWTP, Trout Unlimited completed the first year of a 10-year water lease extension that left flows of .75 cubic feet per second in the creek. Despite the modest size of the lease, it amounted to 100% of the water in this important tributary of the Blackfoot Basin during the last half of the irrigation season.
Last spring, as part of a multi-year complex of restoration efforts, new fish screens were installed on two of the creek’s primary diversion ditches. Within a week, a large trout had moved upstream past the screens and into a reach that has been dewatered during the irrigation season for many years. This spawning fish represents one of an increasing number of returning westslope cutthroat.
Randy Mannix manages the ranch where Wasson Creek flows. Like the rest of his family, he is active in a regional grassroots restoration initiative called the Blackfoot Challenge. “After a forest fire at the headwaters, we used to see the water running dirty a mile downstream of our diversion, but that’s no longer happening. With cattle fencing in place, sedges have grown in and they’ve been cleaning up the sediment and reforming the stream banks from a wide, shallow channel towards a narrow, deep channel,” he reports. “Without the water below our diversion, it just wouldn’t have happened to this degree.” As part of the water transaction project, his cattle now have access to new off-stream water sources that also provide for better grazing distribution.
"We wanted to demonstrate that we could enter into arrangement where agriculture and fisheries could both thrive." Randy says. "The restoration fulfills our vision of being good land stewards; it’s a story I like to tell." Stan is pleased with the outcome as well. "Transactional work is constantly evolving, and we are making huge strides largely because of the design and focus of the CBWTP regarding both the limitations and the possibilities of flow transactions. The CBWTP is filling a very important and challenging niche in this restoration mosaic."
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| In Oregon... Transaction Tools Designed for Community Needs |
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“Maximizing our flexibility in water management helps us sustain irrigated agriculture while aiding the recovery of the river to a healthy, fully functioning ecological system.”
– Scott McCaulou, Program Director
Deschutes River Conservancy |
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“A long-term approach to river restoration builds local support while meeting environmental water needs," says Scott McCaulou, Program Director of the Deschutes River Conservancy (DRC). Like the CBWTP's other partners in the Columbia Basin, the DRC relies on a combination of permanent and temporary transaction tools to achieve outcomes that balance community interests. "Maximizing our flexibility in water management helps us sustain irrigated agriculture while aiding the recovery of the river to a healthy, fully functioning ecological system," he says.
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Because central Oregon is a place where an increasing number of landowners are involved in agriculture—not as a commercial enterprise but rather for its quality of life—a strategic combination of short- and long-term options also helps address both new and traditional uses of water
For example, the DRC's water leasing program offers a way for people with limited experience in irrigated agriculture to temporarily dedicate water rights to the Deschutes River as they develop a deeper understanding about managing their property and their resource needs. Under these circumstances, leases can be more practical and cost effective than permanent acquisitions while cumulatively providing long-term ecological benefits for the river.
Leasing allows river managers to facilitate the timing, location, and volume of flows based on the biology of targeted species; it gives the DRC an opportunity to assess the ecological value of a water right before committing to a permanent acquisition; and it offers landowners a chance to establish trust in the process. In 2007, with support from the CBWTP, this program restored more than 27,000 annual acre-feet to the Deschutes River and its tributaries.
Relationships built through the leasing program have also led to permanent transactions that include both water purchases and acquisition of water saved through conservation projects. The DRC’s water conservation program allows irrigation districts and commercial agricultural producers to use less water by improving the efficiency of their irrigation conveyance and application systems, thereby lowering operation and maintenance costs and leaving more water in the river. With the CBWTP's help, the conservation program permanently restored more than 6,687 annual acre-feet of water to the Deschutes River system in 2007.
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In Washington...
Land-water Partnerships Complement Outcomes |
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“By working together we’ll achieve a conservation outcome for this valley that’s much greater than it would have been. And in doing so, we’ll continue to enhance the agricultural economy that’s at the heart of this community.”
– Jason Paulsen, executive director
Methow Conservancy |
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Within the CBWTP, one leading example of a land-water partnership is in the Methow Valley, where staff from the Washington Rivers Conservancy (WRC) and the Methow Conservancy (MC) seem to finish one another’s sentences. "Certainly in eastern Washington, you can't do a land conservation project without thinking about water, and vice versa," says WRC's executive director Lisa Pelly. "It makes perfect sense to be sure that landowners are thinking about water resources at the same time they're thinking about land conservation," agrees MC's executive director, Jason Paulsen. "There is a direct connection, and it's only going to become more important going forward."
In the arid Columbia Basin, like elsewhere in the West, much of the value of agricultural land derives from the water rights associated with it. The relationship between land and water is mirrored by WRC and MC's complementary approaches. As a starting point, both organizations are committed to the region's farm economy and culture. When Lisa lists the benefits of their collaboration, "At the top is the chance to leverage different pools of funding so that together we can offer more financial opportunities for landowners to achieve their stewardship goals." More flexibility for agricultural producers also inoculates them against ever-present development pressures that threaten to consume both riparian habitat and streamflows.
WRC and MC also share similar challenges, especially the need to reach more landowners with their message. "We have to keep educating and communicating about what we do every single day," says Jason. "Someone interested in land conservation may also be the sort of person open to doing a water transaction, and the reverse is true as well," Lisa notes. Indeed, each group has introduced the other to project possibilities that they might otherwise have missed. "To have an organization like WRC who can speak about their work relative to the same property is valuable," Jason adds. "Funders tell us they're impressed by that coordination."
From WRC's perspective, one of the advantages to their collaboration is what Lisa describes as, "the synergy of improving flows in places that will be protected and restored." Jason agrees. "We could do our jobs and ignore one another's work and be successful," he says. "But by working together we'll achieve a conservation outcome for this valley that's much greater than it would have been. And in doing so, we'll continue to enhance the agricultural economy that's at the heart of this community."
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| In Washington... Tracking Biological Results |
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“ByFor the biggest benefits, you generally want to be working in the smaller streams, just like the CBWTP is doing.”
– Jonathan Kohr, monitoring biologist
Washington Department of Ecology |
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To prioritize and map streams that can benefit from additional water, resource managers consider baseline data like historical flows, presence or absence of anadromous fish and potential encroachment from human population growth. Once critical reaches are identified, Jonathan Kohr, monitoring biologist for the Water Team, works to establish biological flow targets chiefly by considering needs for fish passage and by applying tools such as a habitat model called PHABSIM, an indicator of how much water is required by target fish species for spawning and rearing.
To accurately measure improvements towards reaching biological goals, Jonathan advocates for a minimum flow increase of 20% during critical life stages. "For the biggest benefits," he says, "you generally want to be working in the smaller streams, just like the CBWTP is doing." Hedia Adelsman, Executive Policy Advisor with WDOE, agrees, stressing the need for patience. "You may not see that 20% increase right away. Say you're working in a priority tributary with 5 cubic feet per second (cfs) of water and you have the possibility of a .2 cfs transaction. Should you do it? When the likelihood of securing more water from other projects is high, the answer is yes."
While Hedia strongly supports performance monitoring, she offers a reminder that, "We won't succeed if we only look at transactions where we can measure biological performance under all the right conditions. There are social and cultural aspects involved and sometimes it's a good idea to do a transaction in order to demonstrate potential to the community."
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