Ecosystem Monitoring

Ecosystem monitoring is a major focus for the Estuary Partnership. The lower Columbia River and estuary is extremely complex. Scientists are a long way from fully understanding the river’s dynamic and complex environment and are only just beginning to understand the relationship between the Columbia River and the plant and animal species that live in its watershed.

Action 27 of the Management Plan calls for the Estuary Partnership, with its partners, to implement sustained long term monitoring to understand conditions in the river and to evaluate trends and the impacts of actions over time. The Aquatic Ecosystem Monitoring Strategy for the Lower Columbia River (Monitoring Strategy) lays out a framework for implementing the monitoring called for in the Management Plan. The Estuary Partnership's Ecosystem Monitoring Project is providing information on several of the monitoring needs identified in the Monitoring Strategy, including:

Conventional and Toxics Monitoring
Habitat Monitoring

Major work towards implementing the monitoring strategy began in 2003 when the Estuary Partnership secured a three year award from the Bonneville Power Administration. Since then the Estuary Partnership has coordinated the collection of water quality and habitat monitoring data and is completing a habitat classification system for the lower Columbia River and estuary. Annual reports detailing the Ecosystem Monitoring Project's progress are available:

Ecosystem Monitoring Project Year 2 Annual Report
Ecosystem Monitoring Project Year 3 Annual Report

The Estuary Partnership is also involved in the collection of various data layers to characterize the habitats that comprise the Columbia River estuary, including the collection of information related to fish passage barriers, vegetation patterns, and the historic floodplain boundary. Other Habitat Mapping efforts, include an inventory of shoreline features on the Oregon and Washington sides of the Columbia River Estuary.

Comprehensive environmental monitoring remains the only way to understand river conditions, fill in data gaps, pinpoint problem areas, assure compliance with water quality standards, track trends in the river’s health and resources, and assess the effectiveness of management actions over time.