Image provided by: The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs; Warm Springs, OR
About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (March 8, 1991)
Spilyay Tymoo Warm Springs, Oregon March 8, 1991 IGKJ Constant monitoring keeps check on water quality Water quality on the Warm Springs Reservation is "excellent" and the Warm Springs Water and Soil Resources Department is work ing to keep it that way. Collection of water resource data is important in maintaining the high quality of the water resource by providing background informa tion for management decisions. Thirty-five monitoring stations provide data on stream character istics. Taken at various times of the year, the data enables the Water Department to keep tabs on the condition of streams. Water quality testing has resulted in improvements on some reserva tion streams. For example, erosion control structures installed at Log Springs helped to reduce sediment load and improve water quality at the Warm Springs National Fish Hatchery. Gabions on Quartz Creek decreased sediment and increased vegetation. Evaluation of streams are made from tests conducted at monitor ing sites once a month. Turbidity Turbidity measures the particles ' of sediment in the water. By pass ing a light through the water, the opaqueness can be calculated. pH The acidity or alkalinity of the water is found by measuring the hydrogen-ion concentration and activity. The scale ranges from zero to 14. Reservation streams gener ally measure between 6.5 and 8.5. WarmSprings watermaster Deepak Sehgal notes that the streams maintain a good pH level with one exception. In the full, the Deschutes River shows a high pll level result ing from runoff. Runoff from irri gated land carries with it high con centrations of fertilizers. Although the river eventually carries the deposited chemicals downstream, lakes are more scverly affected. Algae increases and oxygen con tent decreases as is evidenced in Lake Billy Chinook. Dissolved Oxygen The amount of oxygen in the water can influence acquutic life. Tests indicate that streams "are basically in excellent quality" in regards to dissolved oxygen, says Sehgal. However, Reservation lakes have not been thoroughly moni tored in the past. The Water and boil Resources Department is develop ing a method for analyzing lakes. Conductivity The amount of electricity pass ing through water shows the a mount of dissolved solids in water. Water docs not conduct electricity unless there are particles in it. The con ductivity test docsnt indicate what type of solids are contained in the water but it does indicate whether the amount is high or low. Temperature Temperature spot checks are made when other tests are exe cuted. Thermographs which record temperatures continuously and which are located at some sites help provide temperature figures. Temperature problems are oc curing in some Reservation streams. These streams show temperatures that range too high in the summer and too low in the winter. These 4 v r. J extremes can take a toll on acqua tic life. Fish, for example, have adapted to temperatures not ex ceeding 65 degrees Fahrenheit Temperatures exceeding this can cause stress. Seghul mentions that good stream canopy cover over streams can produce beneficial effects on the temperature of streams. Sediment analysis Sediment analysis is done only after a major runoff has occurcd. Water samples are taken and then analyzed in the Natural Resources offices. The amount of transported silt is measured. In 1982, the Streamside Man agement Plan was instituted and has partially protected Reservation streams. Class I and Class II streams, requiring stream buffers of 100 feet and 60 feet respectively, have been shcildcd from human activity. Class III with only a 30 foot buffer strip have not received such protection. These streams, too, are important as they feed Class I and II streams. Sehgal hopes to establish more stringent protection on these smaller streams. The Watershed Management Plan which takes into account cumula tive effects of human activity in watersheds is also helping to pro tect water quality. The plan was developed after resource managers analyzed Beaver Creek Watershed to find that one activity may not be injurious to a watershed but as the number of activities increase, the effects rapidly increase. "We want to maintain a level of activity that nature can keep up with," says Sehgal. If activity is exceeded, efforts to mitigate must take place, such as seeding , eliminating roads or stream enhancement. Outside the forest, water quality is protected with constant monitor ing and action steps if needed. The Kah-Nce-Ta lagoon system was recently overhauled after fecal coliform counts were found to be excessive in the Warm Springs River. A chlorination system and new plumbing alleviated the prob lem of untreated sewage entering the river. Monitoring continues in areas where human activity is high. Spills from chemnicals which might enda ngcr acquat ic life receive immediate response. Clean-up ac tivities are required immediately and the Water and Soil Resources Department monitors the area until it is declared free of harmful chem icals which could enter the river system. The Warm Springs Water and Soil Resources Department is the Reservation's "Waterwatch," and it is an important component in planning for the future. Depart ment personnel are involved in development of the Integrated Resource Management Plan for the Reservation. The Department has a representative on the Envir onmental Code team and on the Water Negotiation team. It is involved in weather monitoring besides water quality monitoring and works closely with other re source offices to maintain the high quality of water which is essential to the future of the Reservation. 7- V. . . VTA V. r-z: f .T.- w V . it t fcZ.At ' -1- The quality of water on the Warm Springs Reservation is rated high. Hundreds of species use Riparian zones X4 fc, f , 1 -'". - V J J Water technician Richard Craig samples water at Shitike Creek to determine its condition and to provide continuing data on this important resource. Floodplains are an important part of the riparian zone. All of the floodplain vegetation that shades or directly contributes material to a stream is considered part of the riparian zone. In fact, the frequency of flooding and the groundwater supply are the major factors that control the growth of floodplain trees. Stream channels rely on nat ural flooding patterns. Floodplains and backwaters act as small reser voirs to hold surplus runoff until peak floods are past. Floodplains also spread the impact of a flood over a larger area, while the vegeta tion helps collect debris. The com position of plany communities de pends on the water pattern (fast- or slow-moving), and flooding is crit ical in the exchange of nutrients and energy between the stream and the ripairan area. Both wet and dry phases are necessary in this zone to complete the stream's nutrient cycle and food chain. Because riparian ecosystems pro vide the essentials of habitat food, water, and cover they are crucial for a variety of wildlife. In general, the area within two hundred yards of a stream is most heavily used by wildlife. In western Oregon, of 414 known species of wildlife, 359 use riparian ecosystems extensively, and 29 species are tied exclusively to this area. While riparian zones cover less than one percent of the land in eastern Oregon, 280 of 379 species use this zone extensively. Riparian zones provide migra tion routes and corridors between habitats for many animals. The riparian zone provides cover, food and water during these movements. The woody plant communities in the ripairan zone provide cover, roosting, nesting and feeding areas for birds, shelter and food for mammals, and increased humidity and shade (thermal cover) for all animals. rBirds are the most common and conspicuous forms of wildlife in the riparian ecosystem and it is an important breeding habitat for them. In some riparian research areas from 150 to 550 breeding pairs have been found per 100 acres. Bird density is just one indi cator of the productivity of a ripar ian zone. Mammals typical of the riparian zone include all sizes from small to large. Mammals, especially rodents, are parts of various food chains. Others, such as the beaver, may modify riparian communities. Another indicator of riparian environmental quality are the am phibians and reptiles. Nearly all amphibians depend on aquatic habitats for reproduction and over wintering sites. Certain turtles, snakes and lizards also prefer ripar ian ecosystems. Fish are also indicators of the health and integrity of the watershed and riparian ecosystem. Large woody materials, like fallen trees and limbs, create pools and protec tive cover necessary components of fish habitat. The debris also increases the diversity of inverte brates. These are a basic part of the food chain on which salmon and trout depend. For humans, since the land along thestreambanksand floodplains is often fairly flat, riparian areas are attrative locations for roads., Streams and. their banks are also readily, available sources of rock and gravel for building roads. Roadbuilding increases sedimenta tion which adversely affects aqua tic life, especially fish. Runoff from roads may carry oil, antifreeze and other contaminants into the stream. The construction of a roadway also destroys valuable wildlife habitat. Traffic, a hazard in itself, may dis turb or displace many wildlife spe cies. Road construction probably has a geater and more long lasting impact on riparian zones than any other human activity. Generally, areas near streams are highly productive forage sites. Cattle and other livestock use riparian areas heavily. As they con centrate near water, the soil is compacted and water percolation is reduced. As the vegetation is eaten or trampled, erosion in creases, the strcambanks slough away and water quality is reduced. Mining in and near streams has severe impacts on riparian ecosys tems. Mining often increases sedi mentation and disrupts spawning areas by moving large amounts of gravel, rock and soil. In addition, mining may introduce poisonous heavy metals into streams. Logging may disrupt the ripar ian zone. Until recently, clcarcuts commonly went to the stream's edge. In addition to removing the trees which. shade the stream, the. understory and groundcover were heavily damaged. These trees would also have been a future source of structure in the stream. This created erosion, and all of the problems caused by heavy sedimentation. Direct destruction of spawning grounds can occur by dragging logs through streams, building roads along the banks, and trans porting logs down small rivers. Now strips of vegetation, called bufferzones, are left along streams. These provide shade, and logs which fall in the stream, reduce water velocity and prevent washouts. All of these practices affect waterflow, bank erosion, siltation and tem perature extremes. Since areas along streams are cool, green, shadv and beautiful, they are especially attractive for recreation. Holistic Resource Management takes future into consideration (Editor's Note: The following information is provided by Ross Racine of Tribal Range and Ag and Dave Smith, BIA range conser vationist.) Holistic Resource Management What is Holistic Resource Man agement (HRM)? A practical method for manag ing land, human and financial re sources to produce results that respond to environmental, social and economical, cultural and other important values. How does it differ from other management approaches? We can manage in wholes, the minimum whole includes the land, human and financial resources in volved in any situation. It is goal driven. We start by defining the quality of life sought by the people involved, in our case it is tribal members. Then, we envi sion what our landscape needs are to look like far into the future so our people and communities, wild life, water, timber and agriculture will be healthy and productive. This differs significantly from the vaguely defined goals behind most management decsions through out the United States. Instead of acting to increase tive thermal cover. Grazing occurs in a manner to sustain and enhance perennial plant communities with out causing detriment to riparian areas, wildlife areas, cultural plant production or reforestation." Our hope is that more and more tribal members will become in volved in the goal setting process, so that our future management decisions and actions are truly mov ing in the direction that our people desire. After you have set goals how do you begin? We begin by assessing current reality. We have to know where we are with the land and the people before we plan how to get where we want to go. We assess the current state of the land, not by gathering and compar ing detailed measurements and sta tistics, but by observing what's happening on or near the soil sur face. By learning how to read the land we can tell if our rainfall is penetrating the soil and becoming productive or being lost to evapo ration an runoff. Reading the land requires us to use all of ourpower-of-observation skills (i.e. sight, touch, smell, etc.) This requires us to get out of our pick-up trucks, get down off the production, solve a problem, erad- horse, onto our hands and knees to icaic or preserve a species, we asx, "What quality of life can we expect? What can this place produce in order to support it? And what will this landscape have to become to sustain this production and quality of life indefinitely?" A landscape goal example may include such statements as: "Clear cool running streams, that support fish life, which are bordered by a look into the land, not just at the land. Reading the land requires us to be "resource detectives". That is, to look at what is happening on the land, (the soil surface, existing plant and seedling growth, insect activi ties in the soil, etc.) and piece together the clues to determine the health of our land. Through our observations we can tell if the earth's nutrients are healthy riparian ecosystem. Wild- cycling through plants and ani life are supportd by balanced areas mals, or if they are trapped in old of high quality forage and protec- undecayed plant material. We can tell how effectively we are utilizing the sun's energy by the amount and type of plants that grow on our land. As more people on the reserva tion become involved in this pro cess of goal setting and holistic management, we will need to be come more skilled at working together. We need to ask ourselves how well we are communicating, and how trusting we are of one another. We need to ensure that our efforts are team efforts, and we need to encourage the creativity inherent in each team member. So a team of people set compre hensive goals, you assess the cur rent situation on the land and on the human interactions, what's next? Once we've completed our assess ment, we consider the actions we need to take in order to achieve our goals. Our assessment of where we are as a team may show us that we have a great deal of work to do in building communication and trust levels. That is why initially, our goals are only temporary. The people involved need to have enough knowledge of holistic man agement, plus sufficient trust in each other before they can freely express their desires or contribute their ideas. Developing trust and incrasing knowledge becomes a continuous process. Our assessment of the land will probably show that none of the processes mentioned are at opti mum. Before we take any action toward our goals we test each action according to specific criteria: Is it justifiable in terms of its impact on the whole? Is it economically and environmentally sound? Is it ethical? Those actions that pass the test ing are then implemented accord ing to a master plan devised hv resource users. We develop a step-by-step procedure for creating this plan, which is revised annually. In managing our tribal resources holistically, we will develop a spe cific planning procedure that will govern the day-to-day management of the land, crops, livestock, timber, water, fish and wildlife, cultural plants and other products men tioned in our goal. This "biologi cal" planning helps us maximize production and profit while work ing toward the landscape descrip tion we've envisioned in our goal. Recent articles within a major Oregon newspaper have depicted how poor public lands have become in Oregon and the west because of livestock grazing. Advocates for removing livestock from public lands say that only by total lives tock exclusion can the land heal itself and be biologiccally sound. Yet, we know that through the use of Holistic Resource Management practices, the landscape description advocated by these individuals can be achieved with livestock. Once you have created a holistic plan, how do you know you are moving toward your goal? We monitor to stay on track. Because no plan devised by humans is perfect, and because natural events rain or drought or cul tural events market shifts aren't always predictable, we're always prepared to modify our plans. Ideally, we want to make those modifications before events over take us. So, before any plan is implemented, we determine what information will give us the earliest w arning that we might be diverging from our goal. To prevent livestock overgraz ing, streamside damage, and the destruction of cultural sites and wildlife habitat, we would plan livestock moves according to how fast or slow we've estimated the plants would grow. To keep our biological planning on track, we will monitor the daily growth rate of plants. We've also developed a spcific monitoring pro cedure that quickly tells us what is happening on the soil surface. Any changes adverse to plan will always show up there first. When per formed annually, this monitoring gives us all the information we need to ensure that we are pro gressing toward our landscape goal. Our master plan is monitored monthly (more often in emergen cies). We look for consumption or costs of input (fuel, fee, labor, etc.) that run adverse to plan, then deter mine why and immediately do something about it. As people become more familiar with Holistic Resource Manage ment, and as our communication becomes more open and honest, we can begin to set more permanent goals. How would our community here at Warm Springs benefit from Holis tic Resource Management? Our community's health and wel fare ultimately depends on the health and welfare of our natural resour ces. If we truly want to achieve a high level of self sufficiency, we must learn how to manage our natural resources for long-term health and productivity. We must also learn to work more closely together so that actions taken by either land managers or our leaders support and contribute to fulfilling the needs and values of our people. Holistic Resource Management is a very basic concept. Fundamen tally it teaches us that every indi vidual on this reservation is an important part of the w hole of our reservation. It teaches us that we must have a ciear vision oi wnat we want to create for our families, our community, our economy and our environment. It teaches us how to be keen observers of our land and people. And finally, it teaches us how plan toward that future we have agreed is important to us. We have only a limited amount of land, water, tim ber and wildlife. The decisions we make about the management of those resources will affect us long into the future. If we are concerned about that future, we need to express those concerns, and become involved in creating the goals and plans for tomorrow. How do you plan to introduce people to Holistic Resource Man agement on the reservation? We have been working with the Center for Holistic Resource Man agement to design a continuing education program for the reserva tion. Examples of the skills the partcipants will work on are: com munication, team building, goal setting, decision making and finan cial and biological planning and monitoring. The classes will last one-and-a-half day s and will meet once a month for about eleven months. We will spend time both indoors and out in the field. Who can attend? Anyone interested in the future of our reservation is encouraged to attend. People do not need to have a background in natural resource management. We also hope that students will consider attending. Where can people get more in formation? Please contact the Range and Ag office at 553-2421. Also note there is no individual cost, only time commitment.