Watersheds Final Practice Questions

What is a watershed?

An area that drains water into a shared destination (lakes, streams, estuaries, oceans etc.). They can capture precipitation, filter and store water, and determines its release.

What are the advantages to a watershed approach?

- Natural systems perspective

- process focus

- integration tool

- cumulative impacts and indicators

- understanding of complex systems

- planning and modelling tool

What is the natural system perspective?

- natural unit of the landscape

- nested watersheds from landscape hierarchy

- delineates biophysical units that are recognizable and function as unique input/output system

- ideal unit for monitoring and measuring change

- facilitates modelling, mass balance calculation and determining fluxes

What is the Hierarchy Theory?

(1) "Decomposable" structure

(2) Slower behaviour at higher levels

(3) Discontinuities are common (organizational, spatial, and temporal scales)

What is an ecosystem property?

- structure

- dynamics/variability

- resilience/thresholds

- linkages and complexities

- scales

What are the impediments of the watershed approach?

- management and policy

- boundary difficulty

- extrapolation

- scale issues

- external issues

What is the multiple-use concept?

refers to the management of various natural resource products or product combinations on a particular watershed. The relationship of several natural resource products to one another can be complementary, supplementary, or competitive.

How can we incorporate the multiple-use concept?

- on-site measurements

- knowledge of benefits and costs

- recognition of off-site impacts

What is the water mining concept?

the idea that water drawn from an aquifer is greater than the recharge

What are the impacts of water mining?

- land subsidence

- lake area shrinking

- contamination

- stream base flow decline

- salty water intrusion

What is the one water ideology?

there is integration of surface water and groundwater rather than dividing the two

Why should we care about surface water and groundwater integration?

- water resource assessment and management

- contaminant transport of aquifer vulnerability to contamination

- location of low recharge areas for water disposal sites

What are some one water research methods?

- water balance

- chemical tracing

- numerical modelling

What is Mountain System Recharge?

A major source of recharge to valley centers within mountainous terrain. Two mechanisms

(1) Front recharge: vertical infiltration or direct runoff

(2) Block recharge: lateral groundwater flow

What are the methods for quantifying Mountain System Recharge?

- water balance

- chloride mass balances

- environmental tracers

- temperature profiles

- numerical modeling

What is watershed planning?

its about integration of science, policy and public participation.

What are the critical steps in a watershed planning framework?

- involve stakeholders/local partnerships

- define problems and management objectives

- determine scales and collect data

- identify alternatives

- evaluate tradeoffs

- implement and monitor the plan

What is a top-down approach?

- government oriented

- effective planning, but not easily implemented

What is a bottom-up approach?

- community-oriented

- public participation and easy modification/ implementation

- no expertise, direction, or funds

What are the ten watershed lessons?

1. clear visions, goals and action

2. good leaders

3. having a coordinator (watershed level)

4. environmental, economic, and social values are compatible

5. plans only succeed if implemented

6. partnership equal power

7. good tools

8. measure, communicate, and account for progress

9. education

10. build on small success

What is watershed assessment?

A process for evaluating how well a watershed is working. Includes Identifying issues, examining history, describing features, and evaluating resources.

What can a watershed assessment do?

- evaluate possible watershed impacts of proposed practices

- identify opportunities for restoration activities

- understand the cumulative impacts of land management practices over time

What is WAP?

- watershed advisory committee

- compilation of existing information

- field assessment

- watershed report card

- water report

- forest development plan recommendations

What is involved in a WAP field assessment?

1. Peak flow and hydrological recovery

2. Sediment source survey

3. Reconnaissance channel assessment procedure

4. Riparian assessment

What is involved in a WAP report card?

1. Percentage of watershed harvested

2. ECA by important elevation band

3. total road density

4. length of road as a high sediment source

5. total number of landslides entering streams

6. number of stream crossings

7. length of stream with non-functional riparian forests

8. length of stream with disturbed stream channel

What is the importance of riparian zones?

(1) LWD inputs

(2) Bank stability

(3) Shade

(4) Organic inputs

(5) Filtering

(6) Flood relief

What are the watershed restoration techniques?

- Fish access

- stream banks

- large woody debris

- boulder clusters

- pool-riffle reconstruction

- fertilization

- off-channel habitats

How can we implement fish access restoration techniques?

- log/debris jam removal

- debris/rockslide removal

- restoring access at culverts

How can we implement stream bank restoration techniques?

- rock method

- vegetative method

- integrated method

What is a large woody debris jam?

- site specific

- replace lost roughness elements

- habitat oriented

- rearing, spawning

- triangular configuration

- ballasted

- stable channel

What is a boulder cluster?

- habitat focus

- size rock to stream

- place in riffles

- rearing habitat

- stable channel

- diamond configuration

What is riffle restoration?

- process-oriented

- repeating units: riffle to pool

- space according to size of stream

- size rock to size of stream

- restore bed profile and habitat features

- stable channel

What is channel restoration?

- process-oriented

- floodplain included

- longer-term focus

- not ballasted

- dyke setback, re-meandering, roughness elements

- stable or unstable channel

What is off-channel restoration?

- habitat oriented

- surface or groundwater-fed

- engineered

- spawning or rearing focus

- stable or unstable channel

- maintenance intensive

What is fish passage restoration?

- replacement or augmentation

- engineered

- can be very cost effective

- maintenance

- ownership

What is riparian restoration?

- long term

- planting, thinning, brushing

- key part to integrate with other approaches

- maintenance

What are some modern management approaches?

- top-down versus bottom-up

- participatory management

- supply versus demand management

- ecosystem management

- adaptive management

what is the ecosystem management concept?

Integrating scientific knowledge of ecological relationships within a complex sociopolitical and values framework toward the general goal and protecting native ecosystem integrity over the long term. (Too broad)

What are the six elements of adaptive management?

Identifying issues → Design → implementation → monitoring →evaluation → adjustment

What are the five IWM elements?

- integrated basin-wide law and policy

- empowered governance model (organization, collaborative and participation)

- improve basin-wide science

- financial mechanism ($$)

- integrated information/ data network

What are the Okanagan watershed's IWM issues?

- Finance: 50, water tax

- Science: 70, intensively studied, but a new basin-wide one is needed

- Policy: 40, many regulations, but are fragmented

- Governance: 30, the water board exists, but powerless and ineffective

- Information network: 20, frequently discussed, but nothing happened

What are the key industry sectors in the Okanagan watershed?

- agriculture

- tourism

- forestry and others

What are the key concerns in the Okanagan watershed?

- shortage of water

- ecosystem services

- future development opportunity

- population increase

- climate change

- fragmented responsibility

What are some solutions to the problems in the Okanagan watershed?

- we can change land uses

- we can reduce water consumption

- we can have a better management system

What are the long-term needs for the Okanagan watershed?

- watershed ecosystem-based approach

- agriculture control and reduction

- new Basin Water Board for effective coordination

- GIS web-based information system

- development of basin-wide policy

What are the habitat requirements for fish?

- clean flows

- cool temperature

- suitable flows

- dissolved oxygen

- substrate composition

- cover

- access

What are the natural flow regime roles?

- magnitude

- frequency

- timing

- duration

- rate of change

What are cumulative effects?

aquatic habitat can be influenced by both local riparian and watershed-scale disturbances

What is the River Continuum Concept (RCC)?

- headwaters: heavily shaded, leaf litter is important. Shredders/ collectors are abundant.

- mid-order: less shaded, algae more important. Grazers abundant.

- large: not shaded, phytoplankton present. Collectors important.

What is the Network Dynamics (ND) hypothesis?

RCC can not deal with downstream interruptions, spatial habitat heterogeneity, or non-uniform or patchy distribution. This thinks of:

- rivers as networks

- influence of tributary confluences

- disturbance

- spatial-temporal heterogeneity

What is the Aquatic System Continuum theory?

- a framework for interrelating aquatic ecosystems' physical, chemical and biological characteristics.

- this framework links surface water, groundwater, and precipitation

- not widely accepted at this point

What are the key elements of watershed ecology?

- terrestrial and aquatic interactions

- water is a connector; one-water perspective

- interactions of focal processes

- disturbance drivers dynamics both terrestrial and aquatic

- spatial and temporal heterogeneity

- hierarchical and accumulative

What are Best Management Practices (BMPs)?

a management or structural practice or system designed to reduce detrimental environmental effects of land management activities

What are the Forestry BMPs in watersheds?

- pre-harvest planning

- streamside management

- forest wetlands protection

- roads construction and maintenance

- timber harvesting

- re-vegetation

- fire management

- restoration

What is pre-harvest planning?

Potential adverse impacts such as eroded roads, excessive sediments, and stream damage should be identified, and steps should be taken to avoid these impacts.Planning should identify boundaries of sensitive areas to be avoided such as wetlands and streamside management zones.

What is stream-side management?

Stream management zone (SMZ) width varies in response to factors like slope, type of stream, and vulnerable fish and wildlife species; these widths are examples of the State of Montana's BMPs.

What is forest wetlands protection?

Where roads are constructed near wetlands, maintaining the same amount of water flow to and from the wetlands is one of the most important needs.SMZ boundaries are extended around adjacent wetlands; isolated wetlands are also often worth protecting.

What is road construction and maintenance?

Incorrect culvert placement and/or maintenance prevent fish from reaching upstream habitats by exceeding their leap height. This is a common occurrence.Road embankments are not stabilized to limit erosion, and drainage is poor.Stream crossings include temporary and permanent bridges, fords, and culverts.

What is timber harvesting?

The three main yarding (log transport) systems are skylines, helicopters, and skidders. Helicopter logging may be practical when sensitive resources need to be avoided and few roads or landings are nearby.

What is revegetation?

Spreading slash along the slope contour and growing cover on interactive roads are two favoured revegetation practices.This clearcut is being managed to reforest itself naturally, but past clearcuts were planted in even-aged stands.

What is fire management?

Grassy slopes can be burned to create part of a fire break for controlling possible wildfires.Desirable trees, such as small white pone, can survive prescribed burns.Drip torches allow precise applications of fire to small areas of flammable materials build up in uneven terrain.

What else should we consider when designing BMPs?

- variations in responses to disturbance (need assessment first)

- climate and disturbance: planning and climate change adaption

- cumulative disturbance: need to consider history

- the role of the watershed: size, slope, etc.

- other ecological processes

- Indigenous values

What is the trend in global hydrological reactions to disturbance?

large variations in hydrological response exist, depending climate, vegetation change and topography, and their interactions, but predictability in hydrological response directions is existed. Different approaches for different spatial scales, and all are needed