Water Quality Research

Did you know that the tires on your vehicle last as long as they do because of a chemical preservative?  Did you know that as your tire wears down, that chemical (and others) oxidize and enter to environment?  And once it's in the environment, it inevitably enters the stream network, where recently, it's been discovered that it's one of the most lethal chemicals to aquatic life including some fish species.  Although this chemical, 6-PPDQ as it's known, has proven to be lethal, its effects on fish have largely been limited to laboratory settings with some limited research looking at urban runoff.  But little to no research has been done on smaller roads that see less vehicular traffic.

Parked at Ginger Creek

Sampling in the headwaters of Panther Creek (above and below)

Sampling in the headwaters of Panther Creek (above) and Walker Creek (below)

Sampling in the Nestucca River (above) and walking along Meadowlake Road above Panther Creek (below)

Several Tribes recently and successfully petitioned the EPA for consideration to better understand the chemical and its effects on fish that humans might consume.  In my mind, this left land management agencies with a blindspot.  And in my new job, I wanted the BLM to get out in front of this issue before a lawsuit landed in our laps connecting timber harvest and hauling to water pollution.  So I got in touch with some researchers at USGS who agreed to work with me to establish a water quality baseline.  I designed a field day with a number of sampling locations to collect samples from a variety of stream types with a variety of fish species present and with a variety of roads (surface type) crossing those streams and experiencing a variety of traffic conditions.

Sampling in Glenbrook Creek

The USGS researchers - about half a dozen of them literally came from every corner of the country since this is a pollutant they want to better understand as well.  I stuck to a strict schedule and because of it got to visit each of the sites I had hoped to visit, starting in the Nestucca River area and then heading south to the Mill Creek area.  I even managed to arrange for a logging tour for the researchers who had never been around that type of work before.

On a landing in the Mustang Ranch commercial timber sale