Ecology's stream biological monitoring network
Text Box: The Washington State Department of Ecology (DOE) has gathered stream data from a number of sites in and near Clallam County. Ecology has conducted its own statewide ambient monitoring program ("Ambient" in the table below) since 1993, focusing on the assessment of biological communities in streams. Although they have focused on characterizing aquatic invertebrate communities, detailed descriptions have been provided for physical and chemical attributes in each stream. The goal of this monitoring effort is to detect degradation due to forest and agricultural practices, urbanization, or other controllable sources of impact. Since 1994, DOE has collaborated with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to conduct biological surveys in streams throughout the state using a randomized site selection approach. Each of these surveys includes a thorough analysis of habitat (instream and riparian), water quality, and biological assessments (aquatic invertebrates, fish, amphibians, and algae). The randomized sampling approach was developed by EPA and is called the Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP), launched by EPA in 1988. There are two scales at which DOE conducts monitoring using the EMAP sampling design. On the broader scale, DOE conducts evaluation of wadable streams in ecoregions or statewide (EMAP). They also conduct a regional version of EMAP, called REMAP, focusing on individual watersheds that are equivalent to DOE's Water Resource Inventory Areas (WRIA's) and consisting of wadeable stream evaluations for biological condition, physical habitat, and water chemistry. The table below lists DOE monitoring sites that have been established in or near Clallam County, as of May 2005. For the "Ambient" project, the data are available directly by following the link to the individual site. For the other projects, the data are collated within the project publication, available at the "project information" link.
Ambient
Ambient            
project information            
site period of record WRIA Ecoregion latitude longitude  
Jimmycomelately Cr. @ Hwy 101  2004 17 Puget Lowland 48.0203 -123.0052  
Dungeness R (Dungeness River)  1994 18 Puget Lowland 48.0212 -123.134  
Siebert Cr blw SR101  1994 18 Puget Lowland 48.10851 -123.2782  
South Branch Little R  1994, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 18 Coast Range 48.0527 -123.502  
Lyre R at DNR Campground  1994 19 Coast Range 48.1527 -123.832  
EMAP-Western Pilot (Boat)
EMAP-Western Pilot (Boat)            
project information            
site period of record WRIA Ecoregion latitude longitude  
WWAP99-0752 (HOH R)  2003 20 Coast Range 47.81989 -124.0195  
EMAP-Western Pilot (Wade)
EMAP-Western Pilot (Wade)            
project information            
site period of record WRIA Ecoregion latitude longitude  
WWAP04-R264 (Twin Creek)  2004 20 Coast Range 47.83317 -123.9902  
WWAP99-0517 (Quinn Creek)  2000 20 Coast Range 48.08744 124.59939  
WWAP99-0639 (Dickey River-E.Fk.)  2001 20 Coast Range 48.02538 124.44327  
REMAP - Coast Range Ecoregion
project information
site period of record WRIA Ecoregion latitude longitude
WA788S (Herman Creek-E.Br.)  1994 19 Coast Range 48.1784 124.3598
WA860S (Pysht River-S.Fk.)  1994 19 Coast Range 48.1755 124.1737
WA861S (Pysht River)  1994, 1995 19 Coast Range 48.1693 124.2099
WA002s (Big River)  1995 20 Coast Range 48.1446 124.57972
WA003s (Crooked Creek-N.Fk.)  1995 20 Coast Range 48.13021 124.53722
WA004s (Dickey River-Trib.to W.Fk.)  1995 20 Coast Range 48.02988 124.53388
WA007s (Coal Creek)  1995 20 Coast Range 47.97111 124.58611
WA009s (West Twin Creek)  1995 20 Coast Range 47.83416 124.01277
WA832S (Calawah River-Trib.to S.Fk.)  1994 20 Coast Range 47.9334 124.1714
WA833S (Hoh River-Trib.to S.Fk.)  1994 20 Coast Range 47.7807 123.9353