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Environmental Health

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Oregon Water Science Center

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.

See what is happening in streams near you. View real-time stream data for streams around Oregon.

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Relevant Information

See what the USGS is doing locally.

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News

September 17, 2024

Saline Lake Ecosystems IWAA Fall 2024 Webinar Series

August 20, 2024

Willamette River plankton & water-quality update: August 2024

August 5, 2024

Low-flow periods and trends across the United States

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Publications

November 14, 2024

Advancing sustainable groundwater management with a hydro-economic system model: Investigations in the Harney Basin, Oregon

Groundwater resources frequently trend toward unsustainable levels because, absent effective institutions, individual water users generally act independently without considering the impacts on other users. Hydro-economic models (HEMs) of human-natural systems can play a positive role toward successful groundwater management by yielding valuable knowledge and insight. The current study explores how

Authors

William K. Jaeger, John M. Antle, Stephen B. Gingerich, Daniel Bigelow

Water Resources Mission Area, Oregon Water Science Center

October 22, 2024

Managing water for birds— A tool for the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge

The “Water for Birds Tool” is an Excel-based model designed for resource managers to assess the spatial extent and types of bird habitats in the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. The model quantifies the area of open water, partial water, and water depths on a monthly timescale during the irrigation season (April–July) from 2021–2024. This model combines previously published datasets and incorpora

Authors

Cassandra Smith

Water Resources Mission Area, Oregon Water Science Center

October 21, 2024

Evaluating hydrologic model performance for characterizing streamflow drought in the conterminous United States

Hydrologic models are the primary tools that are used to simulate streamflow drought and assess impacts. However, there is little consensus about how to evaluate the performance of these models, especially as hydrologic modeling moves toward larger spatial domains. This paper presents a comprehensive multi-objective approach to systematically evaluating the critical features in streamflow drought

Authors

Caelan Simeone, Sydney Foks, Erin Towler, Timothy O. Hodson, Thomas M. Over

Water Resources Mission Area, Oregon Water Science Center

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Science

Scenic river view. Clear water and moss covered boulders. Tree lined bank in the fog on a cloudy day.

November 4, 2024

Monitoring sediment transport and aquatic macroinvertebrate communities in the Willamette River basin

The U.S. Geological Survey is listening to rivers to understand how flows transport bedload sediment, which is fundamental to ecosystem structure and health.

Oregon Water Science Center

November 4, 2024

Monitoring sediment transport and aquatic macroinvertebrate communities in the Willamette River basin

The U.S. Geological Survey is listening to rivers to understand how flows transport bedload sediment, which is fundamental to ecosystem structure and health.

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