CSREES PNW Region Water Quality Program logo Fall 2002
PNWWATER 004

Making Riparian A Household Word

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Clean water is naturally a priority issue in communities across the Pacific Northwest and riparian areas are among the keys in protecting water quality. The listing of salmon and other fish species as threatened or endangered in the Pacific Northwest has also brought increased attention to better protecting our streams and riparian areas. The geology and climate of our region formed our riparian areas over thousands of years, while human activities have changed many of them in significant ways over the past 150 years. Most people do not really understand the many values that riparian areas provide including keeping our water clean and providing valuable fish and wildlife habitat.

Photo of small stream waterfall in the woods.Cooperative Extension faculty and staff work with landowners every day on issues affecting their lives and livelihoods. This provides many opportunities for educating landowners about the role of riparian areas to protect streams, as well as about how they can best protect streams. One tool that the PNW Regional Water Quality Program has produced to assist its faculty and staff is a series of educational publications about protecting streams. The publications relate land management practices with riparian areas, focusing on streamside vegetation native to the different bio-regions of the Pacific Northwest. Specific bulletins have been developed targeting the following audiences:

  • Suburban Homeowners - West of the Cascades and Coastal Alaska
  • Suburban Homeowners - East of the Cascades
  • Rangeland Managers
  • Rural Landowners - West of the Cascades and Coastal
  • Alaska
  • Rural Landowners - East of the Cascades
  • Recreationists
  • Farmers
  • Land Developers
  • Foresters
The goals of these publications are to provide an initial introduction for these audiences to the functions and values of riparian areas, as well as provide ways they can protect streams and riparian areas. The publications also provide a list of other resources and contacts where they can learn more.

These bulletins are available throughout the PNW through the Cooperative Extension system that serves every county and district in the region, as well as websites at each of the institutions. See the list of PNW Extension offices in this flyer.

Washington State University logo University of Idaho logo Oregon State University logo University of Alaska Fairbanks logo Northwest Indian College logo Environmental Protection Agency logo USDA-CSREES logo

Pacific Northwest Regional Water
Quality Coordination Project
Partners

Land Grant Universities
Alaska
Cooperative Extension Service
Contact Fred Sorensen:
907-786-6311
http://www.uaf.edu/ces/water/index.html
University Publications:
http://www.alaska.edu/uaf/ces/publications/

Idaho
University of Idaho
Cooperative Extension System
Contact Bob Mahler: 208-885-7025
http://www.uidaho.edu/wq/wqhome.html
University Publications:
http://info.ag.uidaho.edu/Catalog/catalog.html

Oregon
Oregon State University
Extension Service
Contact Mike Gamroth: 541-737-3316
http://extension.oregonstate.edu/
University Publications:
http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/

Washington
Washington State University
WSU Extension
Contact Bob Simmons:
360-427-9670 ext. 690
http://wawater.wsu.edu/
University Publications:
http://pubs.wsu.edu/

Northwest Indian College
Contact Michael Cochrane: 360-392-4299
mcochrane@nwic.edu or
http://www.nwic.edu/

Water Resource Research Institutes
Water and Environmental Research
Center (Alaska)
http://www.uaf.edu/water/

Idaho Water Resources
Research Institute
http://www.boise.uidaho.edu/

Institute for Water and Watersheds
(Oregon)
http://water.oregonstate.edu/

State of Washington
Water Research Center
http://www.swwrc.wsu.edu/

Environmental Protection Agency
EPA, Region 10
The Pacific Northwest
http://www.epa.gov/r10earth/

Office of Research and Development,
Corvallis Laboratory
http://www.epa.gov/wed/

For more information contact
Jan Seago at 206-553-0038 or
seago.jan@epa.gov

National Water Quality Program Areas

The four land grant universities in the Pacific Northwest have aligned our water resource extension and research efforts with eight themes of the USDA's Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension System.

1. Animal Waste Management
2. Drinking Water and Human Health
3. Environmental Restoration
4. Nutrient and Pesticide Management
5. Pollution Assessment and Prevention
6. Watershed Management
7. Water Conservation and Agricultural Water Management
8. Water Policy and Economics

The Project
Land Grant Universities, Water Research Institutes and EPA Region 10 have formed a partnership to provide research and education to communities about protecting or restoring the quality of water resources. This partnership is being supported in part by the USDA’s Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension System (CSREES).

Our Goal and Approach
The goal of this Project is to provide leadership for water resources research, education and outreach to help people, industry and governments to prevent and solve current and emerging water quality and quantity problems. The approach to achieving this goal is for the Partners to develop a coordinated regional water quality effort based on, and strengthening, individual state programs.

Our Strengths
The Project promotes regional collaboration by acknowledging existing programs and successful efforts; assessing program gaps; identifying potential issues for cross-agency and private sector collaboration, and developing a clearinghouse of expertise and programs. In addition, the Project establishes or enhances partnerships with federal, state and local environmental and water resource management agencies, such as by placing a University Liaison within the offices of EPA Region 10.

Scene of river flowing through brush land.
CSREES is the Cooperative States Research, Education and Extension Service, a sub-agency of the United States Department of Agriculture, and is the federal partner in this water quality program.

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Download the informational PDF flyer here

A cooperative program consisting of the USDA Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service
and
the Land Grant Colleges and Universities.

- a Regionally-Based National Network -

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USDA Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service
CSREES PNW Regional Water Quality Program