Oregon Water Science Center
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Welcome to the USGS in Oregon. Our mission is to explore the natural world around us and provide reliable scientific information to help Federal, State, and local agencies, Tribes, and the public make well-informed decisions. Our research is widely used to manage Oregon's water resources for the benefit and safety of people and the environment.
Current Stream Conditions
See what is happening in streams near you. View real-time stream data for streams around Oregon.
View DataWeekly Science Seminar
Our lunchtime seminars are held Tuesdays from 12pm to 1 pm and are open to the public.
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Expanding our knowledge of Willamette River fish habitat
USGS scientists are providing important information about off-channel features of the Willamette River, which provide habitat for many fish species including salmonids. This information will fill gaps in the data needed to effectively manage the Willamette River system.
Surface-water nutrient and sediment mappers are now available
SPARROW mappers are interactive tools that allow users to evaluate streamflow and nutrient and sediment conditions as well as the importance of different sources of contaminants in a selected river basin. Data can be visualized at different scales using maps and interactive graphs and tables.
USGS Responds to Oregon Wildfires
On Labor Day, September 7, 2020, dry conditions combined with unusually strong summer winds resulted in several fires in western and southern Oregon. These fires have caused property damage and fatalities.
Publications
Temperature and water-quality diversity and the effects of surface-water connection in off-channel features of the Willamette River, Oregon, 2015–16
Water-quality conditions (including temperature) in the Willamette River and many of its adjacent off-channel features, such as alcoves and side channels, were monitored between river miles 67 (near Salem, Oregon) and 168 (near Eugene, Oregon) during the summers of 2015 and 2016. One or more parameters (water temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH,...
Smith, Cassandra D.; Mangano, Joseph F.; Rounds, Stewart A.
Use of boosted regression trees to quantify cumulative instream flow resulting from curtailment of irrigation in the Sprague River basin, Oregon
A boosted regression trees (BRT) approach was used to estimate the amount by which streamflow is increased when irrigation is regulated (curtailed) upstream of a streamgage on the Sprague River in southern-central Oregon. The BRT approach differs from most other approaches that require baseline conditions for comparison, where those baseline...
Wood, Tamara M.
Development of regional skew coefficients for selected flood durations in the Columbia River Basin, northwestern United States and British Columbia, Canada
Flood-frequency (hereinafter frequency) estimates provide information used to design, operate, and maintain hydraulic structures such as bridges and dams. Failures of these structures could cause catastrophic loss of property, life, or both. In addition to frequency estimates that use annual peak streamflow, frequency estimates of flood durations...
Lind, Greg D.; Lamontagne, Jonathan R.; Stonewall, Adam J.