Assessing Cow Creek following a riparian restoration
type: CreativeWork
description: "Cow Creek (Adams County, WA) has been degraded by livestock grazing for over 100 years but is currently the subject of a riparian restoration project by the Washington Department of Ecology. Fencing was installed to exclude cattle from the riparian corridor, but livestock practices in the watershed continue. I assessed the ecosystem health of Cow Creek using two independent techniques: analysis of benthic macroinvertebrate communities and measurement of nutrient uptake rates following short-term nutrient additions. Characterization of benthic macroinvertebrate communities is a well-established method for monitoring stream water quality, but provides little information on ecosystem function. In contrast, measurements of nutrient uptake provide information on how efficiently the stream uses and recycles nutrients. The study includes a control site, which has been fenced and not been grazed for over 10 years, and two impacted sites, of varying degree of cattle impacts, along Cow Creek, as well as two reference sites on Crab Creek. I collected 10 macroinvertebrate samples from each site during the summer of 2008 and again in summer 2009, and identified at least 300 invertebrates from each sample to the lowest practical taxonomic level (usually genus). Standard macroinvertebrate metrics were applied to evaluate water quality. I measured uptake in late summer 2009 using a whole-stream addition of ammonium at three concentrations, with rhodamine as a conservative tracer. Uptake lengths were calculated from the decline in ammonium concentrations with distance downstream. Uptake lengths ranged from 56 meters for Cow Creek below Cow Lake (impacted,Cow Creek (Adams County, WA) has been degraded by livestock grazing for over 100 years but is currently the subject of a riparian restoration project by the Washington Department of Ecology. Fencing was installed to exclude cattle from the riparian corridor, but livestock practices in the watershed continue. I assessed the ecosyste…
abstract: "Cow Creek (Adams County, WA) has been degraded by livestock grazing for over 100 years but is currently the subject of a riparian restoration project by the Washington Department of Ecology. Fencing was installed to exclude cattle from the riparian corridor, but livestock practices in the watershed continue. I assessed the ecosystem health of Cow Creek using two independent techniques: analysis of benthic macroinvertebrate communities and measurement of nutrient uptake rates following short-term nutrient additions. Characterization of benthic macroinvertebrate communities is a well-established method for monitoring stream water quality, but provides little information on ecosystem function. In contrast, measurements of nutrient uptake provide information on how efficiently the stream uses and recycles nutrients. The study includes a control site, which has been fenced and not been grazed for over 10 years, and two impacted sites, of varying degree of cattle impacts, along Cow Creek, as well as two reference sites on Crab Creek. I collected 10 macroinvertebrate samples from each site during the summer of 2008 and again in summer 2009, and identified at least 300 invertebrates from each sample to the lowest practical taxonomic level (usually genus). Standard macroinvertebrate metrics were applied to evaluate water quality. I measured uptake in late summer 2009 using a whole-stream addition of ammonium at three concentrations, with rhodamine as a conservative tracer. Uptake lengths were calculated from the decline in ammonium concentrations with distance downstream. Uptake lengths ranged from 56 meters for Cow Creek below Cow Lake (impacted,Cow Creek (Adams County, WA) has been degraded by livestock grazing for over 100 years but is currently the subject of a riparian restoration project by the Washington Department of Ecology. Fencing was installed to exclude cattle from the riparian corridor, but livestock practices in the watershed continue. I assessed the ecosyste…
author: Klinzing, Danielle
keywords: Riparian restoration--Washington (State)--Adams County, Stream restoration--Washington (State)--Adams County, Water quality--Washington (State)--Adams County, Biology
date published: 2011-01-01T08:00:00Z
date modified: 2026-07-24T02:12:26Z
provider: Eastern Washington University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Eastern Washington University