City of Portland Watershed Health Index ASCE-EWRG & APWA 2012 Sustainable Stormwater Symposium Acknowledgements

Home , Columbia Slough, Fanno Creek, Tryon Creek

Portland City Council BESPresentation and GSI MarchTeam 8, 2006 It takes a Community to create •Jenniferand Antak, implement Shannonan effective Axtell - BES Watershed •JuliePlan Wilson, GSI

Portland Watershed Management Plan

Portland City Council WatershedPresentation Approach March 8, 2006 •Cost-effective restoration integratedIt takes a Community •Adaptiveto create strategies and •Addressimplement multiple regulatory requirements.an effective Watershed Plan *Rather than starting with the regulations, Portland focuses on goals and strategies for healthy watersheds. 5 Portland Watersheds Portland Watershed Management Plan Portland Watershed Management Plan

Clean Water Act MS4, NPDES and TMDLs CSO Control Stipulated Order

Safe Drink Water Act UICs and Groundwater

CERCLA (Superfund) Portland Watershed Portland Harbor Management Plan Projects, programs Objectives and and policies Endangered Species Act Salmon and Steelhead Strategies Oregon Statewide Planning Goals 5, 6 and 15 Natural Resource Protection Air, Water and Land Quality Willamette Greenway

METRO Growth Management Policies Titles 3 and 13

Portland City Code and Comprehensive Plan

NEW? Portland Watershed Management Plan Key Milestones

5-Year Strategy Watershed Plan Milestones

•2006: Portland Watershed Management Plan (PWMP) (est. objectives, strategies and actions) •2009: Measures: priority indicators and metrics •2010: Watershed Health Index •2010: Portland Area Watershed Monitoring and Assessment Program (PAWMAP) •2011: First year of PAWMAP data collection •Completion of 5-year Strategy •2012: Watershed Health Index Finalized Watershed Monitoring Objectives

Why do we monitor? And how to ensure that monitoring supports watershed restoration efforts. Watershed Health Goals • Hydrology – Move toward normative stream flow conditions to protect and improve watershed and stream health, channel functions, and public health and safety.

• Physical Habitat: – Protect, enhance, and restore aquatic and terrestrial habitat conditions and support key ecological functions and improve productivity, diversity, capacity, and distribution of native fish and wildlife populations and biological communities.

• Water Quality: – Protect and improve surface water and groundwater quality to protect public health and support native fish and wildlife populations and biological communities.

• Biological Communities: – Protect, enhance, manage and restore native aquatic and terrestrial species and biological communities to improve and maintain biodiversity in Portland’s watersheds. from Framework for Integrated Management of Watershed Health http://www.portlandonline.com/bes/index.cfm?c=33528 Watershed Measures

• = Indicators • “Vital signs” for watersheds • A comprehensive set of responsive and quantifiable measures strongly linked to Portland Watershed Management Plan goals and objectives How do we want to use monitoring?

To guide future actions – Which problems are highest priority to address? – Which areas are most important for protection or restoration? To evaluate past actions – Were the actions successful? – If not, why and how can they be improved? – Adaptive Management • Communicate to a variety of audiences - the public, policy makers and scientists What do we monitor?

Physical Habitat Water Quality • Channel Dimensions • Temperature • Channel Gradient • Dissolved Oxygen • Channel Substrate Size and Type • TSS • Habitat Complexity and Cover • Dissolved and Total Metals • Riparian Vegetation Cover and (Cu, Hg, Pb, Zn) Structure • E.Coli • Stream Corridor Anthropogenic • Ammonia-N Alterations* • Total Phosphorus • Channel-Riparian Interaction • Conventionals (hardness,

conductivity, etc.) •- broader, watershed-wide measure of human alterations are captured through GIS and other analyses Biological Communities • Benthic Macroinvertebrates • Fish • Birds Portland Area Watershed Monitoring and Assessment Program (PAWMAP)

• Based on EPA’s Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program – Designed by national monitoring experts – Uses probabilistic sampling designs, core indicators, and consistent monitoring methods to provide statistically–defensible assessments of resource condition • A few revisions to better support watershed plan – Monitoring bird communities – Eventually, terrestrial habitat Portland Area Watershed Monitoring and Assessment Program (PAWMAP)

• PAWMAP collects ~ 2/3 of Watershed Measures. Supplemented with: • USGS gages (flow) and flow modeling • GIS (land use, imperviousness, tree canopy, etc. è characteristics of upland watershed draining to stream)

Monitoring Design • Collect all measures at same locations • Sample the entire stream system • Sample WQ in streams during stormflows • Probability-based sampling • Rotate stations on a 4-year repeating cycle – Years 1, 2, 3, 4 → different stations each year – Years 5-8 repeat 1-4 Monitoring Considerations: Approach • Coordinate different types of sampling – Most powerful if habitat, WQ, biology all collected at same stations • Sample less frequently but at more locations – Seasonal variability well understood; spatial is not – Consider rotational sampling • Try to use a probability-based* sampling approach – Maximizes cost-efficiency and accuracy and reduces bias – Allows your data to be incorporated into larger (e.g., state federal) data sets and analyses – If not feasible, try to pick samples that capture the range of conditions you are interested in, and that avoid unintended biases

* -Probability-based sampling method is “any method of sampling that utilizes some form of random selection. In order to have a random selection method, you must set up some process or procedure that assures that the different units in your population have equal probabilities of being chosen.” http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/sampprob.php Watershed Measures Goal: Water Quality

Temperature ▪ 7-day average daily maximum Dissolved ▪ 7-day daily minimum mean oxygen ▪ 30-day daily minimum mean Pathogens ▪ E. coli (MPN/100 ml)* Toxic ▪ Water Column: Cu, Pb, Zn, Hg# contamination ▪ Sediment: Cu, Pb, PAHs, DDT, of water, chlordane, dieldrin sediments, and ▪ Fish Tissue: Zn, Hg, PCBs, DDT, biota chlordane, dieldrin

* - Compared to a single sample criterion (406 MPN/100mL) and a 30 day log mean based on a minimum of five samples (126 MPN/100mL) # - Metals criteria are hardness-adjusted. There is an acute criterion based on a single sample, and a chronic criterion which is based on an average 4-day exposure GIS supplements field data

Information on key stressors: • Impervious surfaces • Roads • Outfalls • Land Use • Population density

And natural factors: • Canopy/vegetation • Geology/soils • Topography/slope Water Quality: Metals

• For total metals: – 85% of the stations had their highest values during storms – Metals were typically 2 – 4 times higher during storms than any of the other four seasons – Exceedences were infrequent, but all occurred during storms, primarily for copper • Other pollutants (E. coli, phosphorus) also highest during storms Biological Communities: Riparian Birds

PAWMAP 2011: %Native vs Non-native Birds

100%

75% Non-native 50% Native 25%

0017 0080 0129 0273 0329 0058 0314 0426 0016 0060 0124 0188 0272 0352 0476 0636 0144 0208 0122 0298 0345 0012 0014 0078 0105 0121 0137 0186 0250 0378 0506 0524 Columbia Slough Fanno Johnson Creek Tryon Tualatin Willamette River Creek Creek River

PAWMAP 2011: At Risk and Special Status Bird Species Abundance

8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Reticulate Sculpin Dace spp Cottids Mosquitofish Cutthroat trout Redside shiner Speckled dace Riffle Sculpin Sculpin-prickly Coho salmon Warmouth Steelhead Pumpkinseed Oriental Weatherfish Largescale sucker Lamprey ammocoetes Goldfish Fathead Minnow Chinook Rainbow trout Peamouth chub Longnose Dace

600 500 400 300 200 100 0 0 2 4 6 8 10 12

Total number sampled Number of Surveys Watershed Health Index (WSHI)

•Index = a tool to convey change when compared to a reference condition or different point in time

•WSHI = a semi-quantitative tool to indicate change in watershed health over time

•Based on rigorously collected PAWMAP and GIS data

•Translates the data into information that can be more readily understood by the general public Watershed Health Index (cont.)

•The 23 indicators are measurements related to the four watershed health goals (hydrology, physical habitat, water quality, biological communities) •Indicator data points are converted to a score, which are then tallied for individual watersheds, and across watersheds for an overall City score •WSHI scores for individual watersheds are not designed to be compared to each other; they are only relevant for marking change over time within a watershed Assigning an Indicator Score

•Scientific literature is consulted to identify the range of conditions •Lowest Functioning Condition: being degraded to the point that the continued existence of a species is threatened; used to describe one of more watershed conditions. (Framework Document) •Highest Functioning Condition: the sustained presence of natural habitat-forming processes that are necessary for the long-term survival of the species through the full range of environmental variation. (Framework Document) •The range of potential conditions is plotted against a possible score of 1 to 10 •The field data collected is reduced to a single representative value; that value is then compared to the curve to identify a score for that particular indicator for that measurement period;

2011 Citywide Index

Mainstem Willamette Johnson Columbia Willamette River Fanno Creek Tryon Creek Watershed Creek Slough River Tribs

Portland Watershed Health Index Total 4.50 4.23 5.57 5.01 4.53 5.58

Weight 0.167 0.167 0.167 0.167 0.167 0.167

Weighted Watershed 0.75 0.70 0.93 0.83 0.75 0.93 4.90 Total 2010 Portland WSHI

PDX you are ~here

Data from scientific literature used to establish an indicator range from unhealthy (“Lowest Function”) to healthy (“Highest Function”). Data is normalized to a 0 to 10 scale. WSHI Uses

•Provide comparative basis for tracking improvements to watershed health •Highlight areas where more work is needed •Inform monitoring, management, & policy decisions (implementation of 5 yr strategy and development of next iteration) •Serve as a means of communicating progress and needs with the public Next Steps

•Complete WSHI annual report •Evaluate Review and Comment •Prepare 2011 Report •Utilize WSHI and PAWMAP results to initiate adaptive management •Communicate adaptive management impacts to stakeholders

Willamette Watershed - Main Stem

•Major Columbia tributary –187 mi.; 11,478 sq mi –12-15% of Columbia flow –Drains slopes and valleys between Coast and Cascade ranges –Rainfed streamflow •Major Land Uses –Agriculture, forest, urban, residential and industrial –Portland located on lower 17 mi. of river •5 runs salmon ESA-listed •Key Threats: –Toxics - Superfund –Altered flows –High water temp –Floodplain development Willamette Watershed - Tributaries

•Series of small, steep streams draining Forest Park – largely protected •Mixture of seasonal and perennial streams •Disconnected from Willamette by industrial corridor below •Enhancing confluences and reconnecting key streams important restoration measure •Upper watersheds: –“urban reference” –As close to pristine as urban watersheds likely to be

Columbia Slough

•~18 mi in length; 30 miles of side channels. 51 sq. mi. in area •Former floodplain of the Columbia River –Historically a series of wetlands, channels and backwaters that merged w/ Columbia River during high water •Major Land Uses –“Industrial sanctuary” – industrial and commercial land use –One of most highly altered from historical condition •Highly managed flood control system •Series of dikes, levees and fill maintain flood conveyance system •Salmon access to lower watershed. Middle and upper isolated by dikes. •Important wildlife habitats •Key Threats: –altered flows –highly modified channel and floodplain structure –toxics –warm water Johnson Creek

•26 mi. long, 56 sq. mi. ~ 40% w/in Portland •Moderate gradient, mix of land uses –Upper: Rural/agricultural –Lower: Urban/commercial/residential •Most significant salmon stream w/in city. Cutthroat, steelhead, coho and possibly Chinook spawning •Key threats: –floodplain development –lack of riparian vegetation –lower 17 miles WPA-tiled –warm water –pathogens –toxics (DDT) Tryon Creek

•Smaller, steeper watershed. ~6.25 sq. mi.; 7 mi in length •Major Land Uses –55% residential, 21% open space –Upper: highly urbanized (I-5 corridor); Lower: parks •Culverts limit access at mouth, and between State Park and upper watershed •Steelhead, cutthroat and coho w/in watershed •Key threats: –Culverts –Warm water –SW in upper Tryon Fanno Creek

•~31 sq. mi. total, but < 25% in Portland •Steeper West Hills stream; drains to Tualatin River •Land Use –Primarily residential, commercial and transportation (I-5), but limited parks and open space •Key threats: –Culverts –Warm water –Pathogens –Nutrients