Effectiveness Monitoring in the North Santiam, South Santiam and Calapooia River Watersheds

The Willamette River Basin has experienced extensive anthropomorphic change in recent decades. As a result of this change, the
quality and quantity of in-stream habitat for ESA listed salmonids has been degraded. In light of this situation, the North Santiam,
South Santiam and Calapooia River Watershed Councils (Councils) have voluntarily formed a unique regional team that has been
accepted into the Meyer Memorial Trust Model Watershed Program. The Model Watershed Program is a 10 year strategy designed
to expedite the efficacy and pace of community based restoration. Effectiveness monitoring of restoration efforts is an integral
component of the strategy.
The Councils restoration activities currently focus on in-stream large wood placement, riparian planting and riparian fencing. We are
monitoring the success of restoration activities through a series of testable hypotheses using established protocols to provide
repeatable, quantifiable data for analysis. The timing and frequency of parameter measurements are determined by the type of
restoration actions undertaken.
During summer of 2010, pre-project baseline data collection occurred at 11 treatment and control stream reaches within six
subbasins. Reach lengths varied from 350m to 1000m. Data was collected on water temperature, riparian condition, percent canopy
coverage, thalweg profile, wetted width, substrate composition, embeddedness, invasive species and macroinvertebrates from
planned restoration sites. Summary data from year one of the ten year monitoring program is presented and discussed, in addition to
the future direction of the project.