Publications

This study focused on three areas that might be of interest to water-quality managers in the Pacific Northwest: (1) annual loads of total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP) and suspended sediment (SS) transported through the Columbia River and Puget Sound Basins, (2) annual yields of TN, TP, and SS relative to differences in landscape and climatic conditions between subbasin catchments...

The U. S. Geological Survey conducted hydrodynamic measurements in Upper Klamath Lake during four summer seasons (approximately mid-June to mid-September) during 2003 to 2006. Measurements included water current profiles made by acoustic Doppler current profilers at a number of fixed locations in the lake during all four years as well as from a moving boat during 2005 and 2006...

Water temperature is an important factor influencing the migration, rearing, and spawning of several important fish species in rivers of the Pacific Northwest. To protect these fish populations and to fulfill its responsibilities under the Federal Clean Water Act, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality set a water temperature Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) in 2006 for the...

Construction of a selective withdrawal tower at Cougar Reservoir in the South Fork McKenzie River, Oregon, during 2002-05 resulted in a prolonged release of sediment and high-turbidity water to downstream reaches throughout the summer of 2002, with additional episodic releases during storms in the following winters. Suspended-sediment concentrations and loads at five continuously...

Growth and decomposition of dense blooms of Aphanizomenon flos-aquae in Upper Klamath Lake frequently cause extreme water-quality conditions that have led to critical fishery concerns for the region, including the listing of two species of endemic suckers as endangered. The Bureau of Reclamation has asked the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to examine water-quality data collected by the...

The upper Klamath Basin spans the California-Oregon border from the flank of the Cascade Range eastward to the Basin and Range Province, and encompasses the Klamath River drainage basin above Iron Gate Dam. Most of the basin is semiarid, but the Cascade Range and uplands in the interior and eastern parts of the basin receive on average more than 30 inches of precipitation per year. The...

Detroit Lake is a large reservoir on the North Santiam River in west-central Oregon. Water temperature and suspended sediment are issues of concern in the river downstream of the reservoir. A CE-QUAL-W2 model was constructed to simulate hydrodynamics, water temperature, total dissolved solids, and suspended sediment in Detroit Lake. The model was calibrated for calendar years 2002 and...

This report presents the parcel and inundation area geographic information system (GIS) layers for various surface-water stages. It also presents data tables containing the water stage, inundation area, and water volume relations developed from analysis of detailed land surface elevation derived from Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data recently collected for the Wood River Valley at...

The fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) causes chytridiomycosis, a disease implicated in amphibian declines on 5 continents. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) primer sets exist with which amphibians can be tested for this disease, and advances in sampling techniques allow non-invasive testing of animals. We developed filtering and PCR based quantitative methods by modifying...

The upper North Umpqua River Basin has experienced a variety of water-quality problems since at least the early 1990's. Several reaches of the North Umpqua River are listed as water-quality limited under section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act. Diamond Lake, a eutrophic lake that is an important source of water and nutrients to the upper North Umpqua River, is also listed as a water...

Records of diversion and return flows for water years 1961?2004 along a reach of the Klamath River between Link River and Keno Dams in south-central Oregon were evaluated to determine the cause of a water-balance inconsistency in the hydrologic data. The data indicated that the reach was losing flow in the 1960s and 1970s and gaining flow in the 1980s and 1990s. The absolute mean annual...