United States Department of Agriculture A Review of Scientific Information Forest Service Pacific Northwest on Issues Related to the Use and Research Station General Technical Management of Water Resources Report PNW-GTR-595 May 2004 in the Pacific Northwest Fred H. Everest, Deanna J. Stouder, Christina Kakoyannis, Laurie Houston, George Stankey, Jeffery Kline, and Ralph Alig Authors Fred H. Everest is an associate professor, Environmental Technology, University of Alaska Southeast, Sitka, AK 99835; Deanna J. Stouder was an aquatic and fish scientist, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, Forestry Sciences Laboratory, 3625 93rd Ave. SW, Olympia, WA 98512; Christina Kakoyannis and Laurie Houston are research associates, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331; George Stankey is a social scientist and Jeffery Kline and Ralph Alig are research economists, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, Forestry Sciences Laboratory, 3200 SW Jefferson Way, Corvallis, OR 97331. Stouder is currently Assistant Director, USDA Forest Service, Watershed, Fish and Air, National Forest System, 20114th St. SW, Washington, DC 20250. Abstract Everest, Fred H.; Stouder, Deanna J.; Kakoyannis, Christina; Houston, Laurie; Stankey, George; Kline, Jeffery; Alig, Ralph. 2004. A review of scientific information on issues related to the use and management of water resources in the Pacific Northwest. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-595. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 128 p. Fresh water is a valuable and essential commodity in the Pacific Northwest States, specifically Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, and one provided abundantly by forested watersheds in the region. The maintenance and growth of industrial, municipal, agri- cultural, and recreational activities in the region are dependent on adequate and sustainable supplies of fresh water from surface and ground-water sources. Future development, especially in the semiarid intermountain area, depends on the conser- vation and expansion of the region’s water resource. This synthesis reviews the state of our knowledge and condition of water resources in the Pacific Northwest. Keywords: Water distribution, flow regimes, water demand, conflicts, tools, water use. Preface The water resources of the Pacific Northwest provide vital and diverse benefits to North Americans within and outside the region. Demands of the growing population of the Pacific Northwest have exploited and altered the region’s water resources to the extent that the needs and desires of all user groups cannot be met within the existing paradigm of water use and management. Consequently, many ecological, social, and economic issues related to sustainable water resources use require urgent resolution as we enter the 21st century. A comprehensive list of issues pertaining to sustainable water use in the West has recently been identified and discussed by the Western Water Policy Review Advisory Commission (1998) and the National Research Council (1999). The issues identified in these reviews are all relevant in the Pacific Northwest where many agen- cies and organizations are responsible for management of water resources (see app. 1). Because the state of knowledge for water resources management is incomplete, many organizations also are engaged in a variety of water resources research topics in the region, each focused on providing information to solve one or more of the issues. The Pacific Northwest (PNW) Research Station of the USDA Forest Service, is actively engaged in research to solve water-related issues on forested landscapes of the region. Because the Station is unable to simultaneously address all the press- ing issues, a workshop hosted by the Station, and attended by more than 20 coopera- tors and interested parties from federal, state, local government, and private sector interests, was held at Pack Forest, Washington, in 1999, to help the Station focus its research program. The objectives of the workshop were to: • Use the combined views and perspectives among the workshop participants to help the PNW Research Station better identify and understand key emerging issues and trends in relation to water resource management in forested water- sheds of the Pacific Northwest. • Identify key information gaps in understanding how these issues and trends differ across the region. • Identify current and proposed components of both short- and long-term research efforts within the PNW Research Station that best address emerging water issues. These discussions played a key role in helping the Station frame the principal pri- orities for a PNW Sustainable Water Research Initiative. During the workshop, two overriding questions surfaced about the identification and resolution of water resource issues in the region. First, what is the state of existing scientific knowledge on current and emerging water-related issues in the region, especially in forested watersheds, and how can that knowledge base be used most effectively? Second, what new knowledge might be needed to address emerging issues? With these questions in mind, participants in the Pack Forest workshop and the PNW Sustainable Water Initiative Technical Oversight Group identified more than a dozen emerging water resources issues in the Pacific Northwest. Although the issues apply broadly to the region and affect all landscapes and user groups, they were framed to focus on the role that management of federal forested landscapes of the region could play in their resolution. In the following sections, we review relevant scientific knowledge on the themes and issues in relation to the following overriding questions: • How important are federal lands to resolution of water issues in the Northwest? • Can management of federal watersheds improve water yield and water quality within the context of current knowledge? • What new knowledge is needed to improve management of water resources in the region? • We hope the review will be useful to managers, scientists, and other parties inter- ested in management of the region’s water resources, and the resolution of prob- lems and conflicts related to water use. Executive Summary Archaeological evidence of water developments in early civilizations is widespread, and the technical capabilities of the ancients to impound and convey water were in some cases remarkably sophisticated. However, mastery of irrigated agriculture and the ability to cope with variations in climate cycles and human population expansion were never achieved. Early water developments often proved unreliable, at times contributing to the development of civilizations and at other times to their demise. Many of the water management problems encountered by early civilizations persist today, but on a larger scale and with greater frequency. Human populations, which increased sharply in the 20th century, still face problems with salinization of irrigated land, uncertainty in water supplies associated with climate cycles, and sufficient water supply to meet demands. An even more critical problem in the 21st century is human contamination of water resources at the global scale. Freshwater is a valuable and essential commodity in the Pacific Northwest, specifi- cally in the states of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, and one provided abundantly by forested watersheds in the region. The maintenance and growth of industrial, municipal, agricultural, and recreational activities in the region rely on adequate and sustainable supplies of freshwater from surface- and ground-water sources. Future development, especially in the semiarid intermountain area, depends on the conser- vation and expansion of the region’s water resources. The need to protect and conserve the water resources of the Pacific Northwest was apparent by the beginning of the 20th century. The U.S. Congress established the Forest Service in 1905 to provide the Nation with a sustainable supply of high-quality water and timber. National forests are the Nation’s largest single source of fresh- water. In the Western United States, national forests produce about one-third of the region’s total annual runoff, and the fraction is even higher in the Pacific Northwest. The 29 national forests in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho include most of the high- elevation watersheds in the region, receive abundant rainfall, and generate abun- dant runoff. Water development in the Pacific Northwest historically followed a three-phase pat- tern reflecting social change in the United States in the 19th and 20th centuries. The first phase of water development (exploitation phase) consisted of relatively small, scattered efforts to provide water for irrigation, domestic and municipal use, and local electric power generation. As human populations increased, more sophisticated engineering and larger scale projects were typical of the second phase (reclamation phase) of water develop- ment. Society generally accepted the premise that water resources could be con- trolled through engineering to maximize human benefits. The third phase (mitigation phase) of water development began in the late 1960s, and sought to mitigate or, in some cases, reverse environmental effects caused by the reclamation phase. A gradual shift occurred from engineering developments to protection and conservation of water resources, and recognition that instream uses of water for recreation and species viability were beneficial. There are