Integridade Biótica: Revitalização do Rio Willamette - Prof. Dr. Robert Mason Hughes

1. Painting: Courtesy of April Waters, used with permission
www.aprilwaters.com
Biotic Integrity Revitalization of the Willamette
River (Oregon, USA):
Successes & Remaining Threats
Revitalização da Integridade Biótica do
Rio Willamette (Oregon, USA):
Sucessos & Ameaças Remanescentes

2. das Velhas vs. Willamette
Basin area (km2):
29,000 vs. 30,000
Mean annual discharge (m3/S):
300 vs. 680
Natural land cover:
savanna, forest, prairie vs.
forest, savanna, prairie
Current land uses:
agriculture, pasture, urban, mining
forestry, agriculture, urban, mining
Population (millions, %): 5 (25) vs. 2.5 (65)

3. Cold, forested headwaters

4. Portland Harbor, 1890 (at river mouth)

5. Portland waterfront

6. Portland
(1894 flood)

7. Willamette snag removal 1900

9. 9 km

10. Floodplain Forests
Historical
Distribution
Current
Distribution
2008 (GAP)GLO 1850
< 20%
Remains

11. 1850Baker et al. 2004
Ecological Applications

12. 1995
Baker et al. 2004
Ecological Applications

13. Willamette Timeline
• 1911
State Board of Health declares Willamette is an
“open sewer”
• 1926
Health Board starts river study, creates Anti-
Pollution League
• 1928
Portland City Club report finds river situation
“intolerable”, “ugly and filthy”
• 1937
The film “The Polluted Willamette” by Isaac Walton
League and Oregon Wildlife Federation

17. 1938 Citizens Initiative: Oregon Water
Purification & Prevention of Pollution
0
50000
100000
150000
200000
250000
YES NO
247,685
75,295

18. 1940 The Polluted Willamette
• The film was made by the Isaac Walton
League and the Oregon Wildlife Federation.

19. Juvenile salmon died in
2 minutes

20. First Scientific Fish Assemblage Survey

21. Willamette Timeline
• 1950
Oregon Sanitary Authority orders mills to treat
wastewater discharges
• 1960
OregonSanitary Authority requires secondary
sewage treatment for cities
• 1962
Journalist,TomMcCall, broadcasts Pollution in
Paradise
• 1973
Willamette River Greenway Act enacted

22. The 1960s and 1970s Willamette Clean-Up
Succeeded (led to USAWater QualityAct)
Governor Tom McCall

23. 1945
1987
Mainstem Willamette Fish Species Richness

24. Annual
Improvement
in
Water Quality
Index
Scores

25. GoodFairPoorExcellent
Water Quality Index
1990 1995 2000 2005 2010

26. Safe Water Contact Recreation

28. Willamette Flood History

29. Tributary Dams After 1950
Reduced Peak Flood Flows of
Major Floods by 40%:
reduced habitat formation

30. Tributary Dams Built after 1950
Reduced Sediment Delivery to
the Mainstem Willamette River
by 60%: increased channel
incision

33. 1967 Willamette River Park System Act
1973 Willamette River Greenway Program
1975 LCDC Willamette Greenway Program
Bob StraubKarl Onthank

34. Willamette Timeline• 1969
Department of Environmental Quality replaces
Sanitary Authority (increased enforcement)
• 1972
Federal Clean Water Act passed ($); permit
program established for cities and industry
• 1997
Willamette Basin Task Force
• 1998
Willamette Restoration Initiative
• 2006
Willamette Special Investment Partnerships

35. T
ESU Listing Units (Threatened 1999)
• Spring Chinook ESU
• Winter Steelhead DPS
Threatened
Salmonids

36. Oregon Chub, a native endemic species,
federally listed as endangered in 1993
(following Markle et al. 1991 surveys)

37. Willamette River Initiative

38. Large Rivers

39. Large River Floodplains

40. Tributary Junctions

41. Photo from ODFW
Large Tributaries

42. Headwater Floodplains

43. Headwater Streams

44. How healthy is the
Willamette River?

45. Upper Willamette

46. Middle Willamette

47. Lower Willamette

48. Baker et al. 2004
Ecological Applications
Alternative Future Land Management Scenarios

49. Willamette River Thermal Regime
2008 to 2015

50. Where is the cold water?

51. Side Channels
25% of side channel sites were colder than mainstem
BUT
None of the side channels were >2ºC colder than mainstem

52. Cold
Tributaries
Draining
Cascade
Mountains

53. Tributary Junctions
Two-year Flood Inundation
Summer
Cold
Water

54. Floodplain Alcoves

55. Portland EugenePortland

56. August 2016: 43
Alcoves
56% of the alcoves were >2°C
colder than mainstem maximum
temperature

57. Fish Assemblages
• Abundance and number of
native fish species were greater
than non-native species in cold
water habitats.
• Salmonids were 10 times more
abundant in cold water alcoves
than in warm water alcoves.

58. Radio-tagged 100 trout in summer
Released in mainstem near where
first collected

59. 50% of radiotagged trout were located in alcoves with cold
water refuges.
25% of radiotagged trout were located adjacent to alcoves
with cold water refuges.

60. Cold water refuges are not the only
ecological function of river
floodplains

61. 1996 Flood

62. Alcoves

64. HOLD FOR KELLY
INFOGRAPHIC

74. Known Naturally Occurring (gray) &
Introduced (black) Oregon Chub Populations
in the Willamette River Basin
Delisted

75. Reasonable & Prudent Alternatives for Salmon

76. Toxics: Portland Harbor Superfund Site

77. Alien, Invasive Piscivorous
Fish

79. What We’ve Learned
• We are more effective when
we work together.
• Long-term, flexible funding
facilitates scaling-up impact
• A basin-wide view helps:
- Provide support & project
alignment
- Fill gaps
- Solve challenges
- Identify opportunities

80. A new river is forming & the occurrence
of cold water & complex habitats
depends on channel & floodplain
dynamics driven by
flood flows

81. Floods build rivers
Floodplains are not
land near rivers
Floodplains are THE RIVER
Rivers are messy

82. Muito Obrigado
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