Whychus Creek Monitoring
Our new StoryMap tells the story of how restoration has evolved on Whychus Creek, and what our monitoring is telling us about the ecosystems that are emerging. Check it out here!
From 2006 through 2016 UDWC collaborated with the Bonneville Environmental Foundation’s (BEF’s) Model Watershed Program to conduct long-term, watershed-scale restoration monitoring in Whychus Creek. This holistic approach was designed to track the long-term changes associated with the collective restoration efforts of The Deschutes Partnership as well as many other local, state and federal partners. Watershed-scale restoration monitoring focused on stream flow, water quality, fish habitat, and fish and macroinvertebrate populations as outlined in our Whychus Creek Restoration Monitoring Plan and Whychus Creek Watershed Restoration Plan Update.
We also conduct project-specific monitoring in large-scale stream habitat restoration project reaches on Deschutes Land Trust preserves along Whychus Creek to evaluate physical and biological responses to stream and floodplain restoration. As of 2022 we are conducting post-restoration monitoring at Camp Polk Meadow Preserve and within Phase I (Reach 4) and Phase IIa of restoration at Whychus Canyon Preserve. We are conducting pre-restoration monitoring in Phase IIb of restoration at Whychus Canyon Preserve.
A new integrated monitoring plan completed in 2018 updated the monitoring developed with BEF to align with new insights about stream restoration and stream ecosystems, incorporate new approaches to monitoring, and identify indicators and metrics that can be consistently measured and reported across the three reintroduction watersheds (Whychus, Metolius, and Crooked) where the Deschutes Partnership works.
Additional work from 2019 to present with a broad network of partners who are funding, designing and implementing valley-bottom-reconnection, “Stage 0” projects continues to advance new monitoring metrics, methods, and protocols, including measuring key indicators of desired stream conditions from UAV imagery.
Results from our ongoing monitoring efforts are reported in the following documents:
StoryMaps
Toward Stage Zero: Restoring the Whychus Creek Riverscape
Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
Rehabilitating Valley Floors to a Stage 0 Condition: A Synthesis of Opening Outcomes
Using diatoms to assess river restoration: A pilot study in Whychus Creek, Oregon, USA
Stage 0 Restoration Effectiveness Monitoring
2022 UAS Survey of Phase 1 and Phase 2a Stage 0 Restoration at Whychus Canyon
2020 Remote Sensing Analysis Methods Training Video
2017-2019 Whychus Canyon Phase I Reach 4 Restoration Monitoring Report
Appendix A: Whychus Canyon Monitoring Summary Table
Appendix B: UAV Photographic Survey of Whychus Creek
Appendix C: 2019 Whychus Creek Macroinvertebrate Monitoring Report
Appendix D: Whychus Creek substrate analysis final report for UDWC
Appendix E: 2019 Wetland Functions Assessment Report
Whychus Creek Restoration Effectiveness Monitoring
2022 Whychus Creek Macroinvertebrate Monitoring Report
2020-2021 Whychus Creek Water Quality Monitoring Report
2021 Whychus Creek Macroinvertebrate Monitoring Report
2020 Whychus Creek Macroinvertebrate Monitoring Report
2019 Whychus Creek Macroinvertebrate Monitoring Report
2018-2019 Whychus Creek Water Quality Monitoring Report
2018 Whychus Creek Macroinvertebrate Monitoring Report
2017 Whychus Creek Water Quality Monitoring Report
2017 Whychus Creek Macroinvertebrate Monitoring Report
2016 Whychus Creek Water Quality Monitoring Report
2016 Whychus Creek Macroinvertebrate Monitoring Report
2015 Whychus Creek Monitoring Report
2014 Whychus Creek Monitoring Report
2013 Whychus Creek Monitoring Report
2012 Whychus Creek Monitoring Report
2011 Whychus Creek Monitoring Report
2010 Whychus Creek Monitoring Report
2009 Whychus Creek Monitoring Report
Camp Polk Restoration Project Monitoring
2018 Groundwater Monitoring Report
2017 Groundwater Monitoring Report
2016 Groundwater Monitoring Report
2015 Camp Polk Monitoring Summary Report
2015 Groundwater Monitoring Report
2015 Reed Canarygrass Monitoring Report
2014 Vegetation Monitoring Report
2014 Groundwater Monitoring Report
Our Whychus Creek Community Report is available here.