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A pilot project to protect and enhance water quality and habitat in the Rogue Basin.
ROGUE BASIN PROJECT
The Rogue Valley in southwest Oregon is a rapidly growing mid-sized western community grappling with the ecosystem, economic and social stresses directly resulting from growth.
In the next fifty years the Rogue Valley is expected to double in size. This growth will usher in a period of greater competition for water to meet urban, agricultural, and ecological demands.
A doubling of the Valley's human population is likely to result in increased difficulty in maintaining water quality. The potential sources of pollution can not help but expand in response to increased residential construction as well as business and industrial development - all of which will produce additional wastewater and stormwater runoff that must be treated. Such growth undoubtedly also will lead to heightened impacts on the physical integrity of riparian and aquatic habitats.
Without firm action, urban growth will adversely affect water supply, degrade water quality, and impair the rivers, creeks, and streams of this important salmon producing valley.
The National Center believes it is important to work on these issues before the problems become irreversible. Through our Rogue Basin Project we are working to ensure that the water quality and aquatic habitat condition in the urban Rogue Valley will be as good as or better in fifty years than it is today.
We are hopeful that our integrated efforts in this urban watershed can serve as a model for other western communities experiencing rapid growth. Through this project we are "test driving" resource management policy that is both informed by credible science and tempered by on-the-ground experience. As a result, we expect our work will produce significant benefits in the Rogue Valley, and also clarify solutions that will be applicable elsewhere.
* RESTORING FREEWAYS FOR FISH - an ambitious campaign to restore access to fish habitat across 1,200 miles of the Rogue River Basin by 2008.
* WATER QUALITY PERMIT MONITORING AND COMPLIANCE - piloting a program targeting increased compliance and regulatory oversight of Clean Water Act permits.
* TALENT IRRIGATION DISTRICT COLLABORATION - working with the Talent Irrigation District to develop a feasible alternative to the use of toxic herbicides for controlling aquatic vegetation in the District's canal system.
* BEAR CREEK ASSESSMENT - leading a series of investigations to establish baselines, monitor trends, and evaluate the effectiveness of restoration projects; including monitoring macroinvertebrates as indicators of water quality and documenting the conservation status of native fishes.
* REGIONAL PLANNING (WISE PROJECT) – working with others to develop protected in-stream water rights in Bear and Little Butte creeks through a regional water management planning project. Our goal is to improve habitat and water quality conditions for native species, recreation and aesthetics.
Photo by Kevin Schafer.
