What is the Wallowa and Imnaha River WET Program monitoring?

Starting in 2007, High school and middle school students from Wallowa County have been collecting data and creating a database on a variety of water quality and watershed function parameters. In the field, a team of students guided by a staff collect data in one of four areas. These parameters are as follows:

General Stream Survey & Stream Shape Information, including: • Photo Points & GPS location of stream reach • Current weather & weather in past 24 hours • Air temperature • Water smell & appearance • Land use in area • River bottom (substrate) type(s) • Riffle/Pool/Run ratio
Water Quality Data, including: • Dissolved Oxygen • Water Temperature • pH • Nitrate • Phosphate • Turbidity • Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) • Fecal Coliform Bacteria
Riparian Vegetation Information, including: • Vegetation along the stream bank (sides of river) • Vegetation leading away (perpendicularly) from the river banks • Canopy Cover
Aquatic Life Data, including: • Categorization of aquatic life into 4 groups: 1) Pollution Sensitive 2) Slightly Tolerant to Pollution 3) Fairly Tolerant to Pollution 4) Very Tolerant to Pollution • Above information used to create a Water Quality Rating Index (essentially a grade for the health of the river). • Indexing of Mayfly, Caddisfly, and Stonefly species (Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Tricoptera (EPT)) to gain a value (EPT Value). • EPT Value also measures the health of the river.