QUALITY ASSURANCE PROJECT PLAN

Jessica Tausend Baccus

Edward A. Chadd

Natural Resources Division

Clallam County Department of Community Development (DCD)

223 East Fourth Street

Port Angeles, Washington 98362

(360) 417-2281

7/10/2000

Approvals:

____________________ ________ _________________ ________

Jessica Tausend Baccus Date Edward A. Chadd Date

Project Co-Manager Project Co-Manager

_____________________ _______ _________________ ________

Bob Martin Date Rob Plotnikoff Date

Clallam County DCD Washington Dept. of Ecology

RECOMMENDED CITATION:

J. T. Baccus and E. A. Chadd. 2000. Streamkeepers of Clallam County Quality Assurance Project Plan.

Clallam County (WA) Department of Community Development. 34 p.

ADDITIONAL COPIES:

For additional copies of this report, contact:

Streamkeepers of Clallam County

Clallam County Department of Community Development

P.O. Box 863

Port Angeles, WA 98362

360-417-2281

streamkeepers@co.clallam.wa.us

DISTRIBUTION LIST

Name		Agency	Telephone Number
Rod	Fleck	City of Forks	(360) 374-5412 x 2
Brad	Collins	City of Port Angeles	(360) 417-4806
Jim	Bay	City of Sequim	(360) 683-4908
Joe	Holtrop	Clallam Conservation District	(360) 452-1912 x 103
Andy	Brastad	Clallam County DCD	(360) 417-2415
Joel	Freudenthal	Clallam County DCD	(360) 417-2423
Cathy	Lear	Clallam County DCD	(360) 417-2361
Ann	Soule	Clallam County DCD	(360) 417-2424
Val	Wilson	Clallam County DCD	(360) 417-2423
Cathy	Lucero	Clallam County Noxious Weed Control Board	(360) 417-2442
Hansi	Hals	Environmental Consultant	(360) 452-0557
Gretchen	Hayslip	EPA Region 10	(206) 553-1685
Sue	McCarthy	EPA Region 10	(206) 553-2598
Lyn	Muench	Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe	(360) 681-4631
Mike	McHenry	Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe	(360) 457-4012 x 14
Mike	Haggerty	Makah Tribe	(360) 645-3151
John	Cambalik	North Olympic Peninsula Lead Entity Group	(360) 417-2430
Aquatic Ecologist	C/o Cat Hoffman	Olympic National Park	(360) 452-0321
Katie	Krueger	Quileute Tribe	(360) 374-5695 x27
James	Karr	SalmonWeb	(206) 459-0788
Derek	Booth	UW Center for Urban Water Resources. Mgmt	(206) 543-7923
Chris	Hempleman	Washington Department of Ecology	(360) 407-6329
Annie	Phillips	Washington Department of Ecology	(360) 407-6408
Rob	Plotnikoff	Washington Department of Ecology	(360) 407-6687
Teresa	Powell	Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife	(360) 374-9440
Tim	Rymer	Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife	(360) 457-2719

PROJECT ORGANIZATION AND RESPONSIBILITY

Name	Affiliation	Project Title	Telephone Number
Jessica Tausend Baccus	Streamkeepers of Clallam County	Streamkeepers Co-Manager	(360) 417-2281
Edward A Chadd	Streamkeepers of Clallam County	Co-Manager & QA Officer	(360) 417-2281
Arthur Frost	A.J. Frost, Insect Identification	Laboratory Services, Macroinvertebrates	(360) 457-4594
Tania Busch-Weak	Clallam County Environmental Health	Laboratory Services, fecal coliform, e coli & nitrates	(360) 417-2328
Wease Bollman	Rhithron Biological Associates	Laboratory Services, Macroinvertebrates	(406) 721-1977

PROBLEM DEFINITION

Clallam County is currently the focus of great attention and effort to restore dwindling salmon populations. Numerous stream restoration projects are underway and many more are planned; active watershed councils are seeking information about local stream conditions; grant money is being directed to numerous groups seeking to improve streams and fish habitat. All of these efforts share a need for good, ongoing data on stream health. Water quality studies already conducted on streams in Clallam County have identified problems including suspended solids, nutrients, elevated fecal coliform levels, garbage dumping, animal access, road runoff, stormwater discharges, high temperatures, channelization, barriers to fish passage, and degraded habitat.

While numerous studies have been conducted on various streams, there is little consistent baseline water quality data available that can be used to identify specific ongoing problems or be used for planning purposes. In addition, many restoration projects lack a monitoring component to track project success.

Furthermore, watershed management plans for Sequim Bay (1991), Dungeness River Area (1993) and the Port Angeles Region (Clallam County DCD, 1995) recommended that volunteer “stream adoption“ teams be established to help build stewardship of stream resources by area citizens. The plans also suggested that these teams monitor water quality parameters and become involved in solving problems they identify. Better stewardship by local citizens can help decrease nonpoint source pollution of our local streams. A volunteer stream-monitoring program gives interested citizens a way of becoming actively and meaningfully involved in a broad-based effort to learn about, protect, and restore streams and whole watersheds across Clallam County.

In 1996, the Eight Streams Project (a 3-year Washington State Centennial Clean Water Fund grant program administered by Washington State University Cooperative Extension) initiated a volunteer stream monitoring program on streams in Port Angeles and Sequim. When the grant expired in 1999, Clallam County established Streamkeepers of Clallam County to continue the stream-monitoring component of the Eight Streams Project.

Streamkeepers of Clallam County’s volunteer monitoring program provides a suite of monitoring protocols, and a body of trained data collectors, to document the baseline, ambient, physical, chemical and biological conditions of surface water streams in Clallam County. We also apply these protocols to tracking the success of stream restoration and enhancement projects initiated by partner-entities, including Clallam Conservation District (CCD), and Clallam County Department of Community Development (DCD).

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Introduction

Streamkeepers of Clallam County is the County’s watershed public involvement program. Its purpose is to involve residents in caring for watersheds by monitoring local streams, providing credible and useful data that can help guide management decisions and improve watershed stewardship.

The primary job of a Streamkeepers volunteer is to perform quarterly monitoring at established sites on the stream whose team they have joined. In addition, volunteers may choose to join special project teams to help one of our partner agencies obtain stream data, and/or perform an annual Streamwalk that takes a broader view of their stream.

Data collected during quarterly monitoring provides baseline information about stream conditions, helps track changes over time, and provides additional information about the character of Clallam County’s streams. Special project work helps partner agencies complete one or more aspects of their workplan.

The data produced by this program will be entered and stored in a computerized database established by Clallam County DCD. It will be shared with all of our partners on request. Streamkeepers is not the primary end user for its data. Rather, our intent is to collect the data and make it available to those who can most use it. Streamkeepers staff, together with volunteers and technical advisors, may analyze the data in various ways, such as comparing it to state water quality standards. They will write and distribute an annual report by June of each succeeding year. Quarterly data summaries will be provided to partners and others on request following each monitoring session.

Monitoring Program Objectives

Streamkeepers’ primary aim is to provide meaningful, credible stream health data to grant-funded programs, professional resource managers, local elected officials, and citizens of Clallam County. We are not the primary end-users of the data we collect; our main purpose is to train, deploy and support volunteers who can fulfill the data collection needs of those agencies and organizations actively working to accomplish effective stream restoration and watershed protection.

Streamkeepers’ monitoring objectives are:

· Define and document baseline physical, chemical and biological conditions of local streams

· Measure spatial and temporal variability of stream attributes

· Provide information to assist in watershed planning, management, restoration and adaptive management

Program Components

1) Long-term Ambient Monitoring

· Regularly scheduled field sampling events to collect data on 23 parameters of physical, chemical, and biological stream health at established monitoring reaches on selected streams.

· An annual Streamwalk -- a qualitative assessment of numerous spots along any stream of interest to a Streamkeepers volunteer

The primary goal of Streamkeepers’ ambient monitoring component is to collect long-term information to refine knowledge of stream conditions. A baseline of stream biological, chemical and physical conditions helps local governments and watershed councils in implementing water quality and stream habitat improvement programs. In addition, federal agencies and governments can use stream biological, physical and chemical information to evaluate the present condition of water resources within their jurisdictions and assist management decisions to preserve existing fish and wildlife populations and to restore water resources to their potential.

2) Special Project Work

· Special project work, generally applying one or more Streamkeepers protocols to one or more sites or projects at the request of a partner entity.

The primary goal of special project work is to meet the objectives specified for the particular project and/or agency. Special projects undertaken in a given year are identified in that year’s volunteer workscope. Project goals, data quality objectives, and any protocols outside the scope of Streamkeepers’ standard 23 parameters and protocols are identified in the most current Streamkeepers program update.

Site Selection

1) Long-term Ambient Monitoring

Streamkeepers’ monitoring focuses on wadeable streams, most of which arise in the foothills of mountains and are of relatively short length—often just a few miles. In streams we monitor, we try to establish three or more reaches: ideally, one at or near the mouth, one in a developed area, and one above the developed areas. This arrangement allows some comparison between stream characteristics at different elevations and levels of human impact. The exact location of a monitoring reach will depend on characteristics specific to each creek (including access, owner permission, creek history, etc.) Because we are an ongoing program that wants to meet our stated goals over a long period of time, and because one of our primary aims is to be responsive to the monitoring needs of local streams, the specific suite of parameters and sites may change over time. Specific streams and reaches monitored are reviewed annually and may be adjusted each year, according to the recommendations of Streamkeepers’ technical advisors and availability of volunteers. When streams, reaches and monitoring parameters are adjusted, Streamkeepers will issue an update.

Ambient monitoring reaches are selected using the following criteria:

· Reasonable and safe access by volunteers.

· Publicly owned land or permission of landowner to access and mark sites.

· Giving a representative view of the stream as a whole and typical for its location in the watershed.

· At least 165’ upstream or 660’ downstream of bank alterations such as bridges, riprap, etc., if possible.

· Containing both pools and riffles, if possible.

· Above saltwater and tidal influence.

· Located at least one half-mile apart, if possible.

2) Special Project Work

Special project monitoring reaches are selected by the initiating partner agency, to meet their program’s objectives.

Annual Schedule

Volunteer Recruitment & Training