Oregon Sea Grant

Watersheds, water quality under pressure

Oregon’s salmon-bearing watersheds are under the pressure of a growing human population and land use that often results in changes in water quality, habitat, and water rights issues. Watersheds also can provide a pathway for invasive species and breeding grounds for fish diseases.

Oregon Sea Grant targets research on better defining the relationships between the many pressures that can degrade water quality: climate change, upland and coastal land use, fish and habitat restoration efforts, aquatic invasive species. We work diverse groups, whose interests sometimes come in conflict - landowners, outdoor recreationists, farmers and woodland managers, local government, the general public - to seek solutions that will help sustain healthy watersheds and our precious water resources. 

Resilient ecosystems, resilient communities

Decades of fishery management programs designed to benefit Pacific salmon have failed to prevent their decline and have caused greater uncertainty for salmon, their ecosystems and the people who depend upon them.  Oregon Sea Grant is helping pioneer the concept of managing for resilience -  the ability to tolerate or recover from catastrophe. Our 2011 book, Pathways to Resilience, gathers essays by 11 forward-thinking scientists offering new ways to think about, and manage, these iconic fish.  Read more ... 

Protecting watersheds and water quality

Oregon Sea Grant is a key player in the OSU Watershed Extension team, a multidisciplinary team of OSU professionals extending research-based information on watershed health to other professionals working in the field, to decision makers, and to the general public. Watershed Extension touches all aspects of watershed health and management, from restoration and gardening to fish biology and ecology. Through Sea Grant's Master Watershed Stewardship program, the WE team has trained hundreds of Oregonians in watershed processes, salmonid ecology, stream and riparian assessment and restoration, water quality monitoring and related topics. Team members also work with Oregon Sea Grant and OSU Extension to produce textbooks and other publications on such topics as conservation-friendly gardening, sustainable living and low-impact development. Read more ...

Working with boaters for cleaner waterways

Oregon Sea Grant is partnering with the Oregon State Marine Board to develop the Clean Vessel Act (CVA) Education Initiative. Funded by the Clean Vessel Act of 1992, the goal of the CVA Education Initiative is to improve boaters’ awareness, accessibility and use of of sewage pump-outs, dump stations, and floating toilets. Taking a stakeholder based approach, the CVA Education Initiative is currently seeking input from Oregon boaters on the best outreach method for a pilot CVA Education Program in the summer of 2012. Read more ...

Related research

Current projects:

• Modeling Myxozoan Disease in Pacific Salmon: Establishing Watershed Models for Predicting Effects of Climate Change (R/BT-49). Jerri Bartholomew, OSU Microbiology.
• Tides, Freshwater and Winds: Modeling the Impacts of Currents on the Oregon Inner Continental Shelf and Within Yaquina Bay Estuary (R/HBT-16)  James Lerczak, OSU CEOAS.

2010-2012 projects:

• Response of Marsh Insects and Benthic Invertebrates to Dike Removal in the Salmon River Estuary: Follow-up, Synthesis and Education (R/HBT-12). Karen Haberman, Western Oregon University Department of Biology.
• Modeling Myxozoan Disease in Pacific Salmon: How Will Climate Change Affect Parasite Distribution and Salmon Survival? (R/BT-47). Jerri Bartholomew, OSU Department of Microbiology.
• A Predictive Approach to Risk Analysis and the Economics of Early Detection and Rapid Response for Aquatic Invasive Species (R/NIS-19). Munisamy Gopinath, OSU Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.

Learn more ...

• Publications & videos on
  
  • Water Conservation
  • Watersheds and Wetlands
  • Invasive Species
• See Also:
  • Oceans & Human Health
  • Aquatic Invasive Species
  • H2oNC - Former Sea Grant Extension specialist Rob Emanuel's blog about water, watersheds, ecology and community in the Pacific Northwest.