Quillayute River Temperature Active
The Issue: The Quillayute River supports habitat for migrating, spawning, and rearing steelhead and salmon. All six miles of the river are influenced by tides, which influence its stage, discharge, and exchange with groundwater. The Quillayute River, like many salmonid-bearing rivers in the Pacific Northwest, is projected to warm in the coming decades due to projected increases in atmospheric temperatures and concomitant decreases and earlier melt of snowpack.
How USGS will help: This study will provide the Quileute Tribe with the present occurrence and distribution of cold-water refuges within the Quillayute River to guide current habitat restoration efforts and document present conditions for comparison to future conditions.
Problem
The Quillayute River provides important habitat for anadromous steelhead and salmon for which the Quileute Tribe maintains treaty-protected fisheries at usual and accustomed areas. These fisheries are currently at risk during the late summer, as current and projected future water temperatures within the Quillayute River, as measured at the segment-scale and larger, can exceed the tolerance of steelhead and salmon. The occurrence and persistence of cold-water refuges that are significantly cooler than ambient water temperatures of the Quillayute are therefore important to document, protect, and enhance through stream restoration projects that also serve to protect critical infrastructure within the Quillayute valley.
Objectives
The objectives of this project are to 1) quantify the longitudinal and lateral variability of water temperature along the six miles of Quillayute River between the confluence of the Sol Duc and Bogachiel Rivers to its outlet at the Pacific Ocean and parts of the lower Sol Duc and Bogachiel Rivers and to 2) quantify hyporheic and groundwater/surface-water exchange at proposed log jam and wood placements. Water temperature will be measured during the late summer when water temperatures are near their annual thermal maximum and during different tidal cycles which affect the stage, discharge, and groundwater/surface-water exchange within the Quillayute River. Large-scale, one-dimensional characterizations of water temperature covering the six-mile length of the Quillayute River will be used to inform where continuous temperature monitors are placed. The Quileute Tribe is planning to monitor shallow subsurface temperatures, both before and after instream restoration, at predicted post-restoration scour zones. This information will be used to examine whether scour pools generated by large wood placement allow hyporheic water to discharge to the stream.
Relevance and Benefits
The objectives of this study are consistent with the national USGS mission and goals identified in the USGS Science Strategy document (USGS, 2007) to monitor and report on the state of the Nation’s terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems and to study the causes and consequences of ecological change. This study will provide the Quileute Tribe with the present occurrence and distribution of cold-water refuges within the Quillayute River to guide current habitat restoration efforts and document present conditions for comparison to future conditions. This study is appropriate for the role of the USGS in the Cooperative Water Program because it advances analytical methodology for understanding hydrologic processes and will contribute to the scientific basis for understanding the effects of groundwater/surface water interactions and geomorphic conditions on water-temperature in a tidally influenced river.
Approach
The spatial distribution of water-temperature will be quantified using two complimentary approaches: (1) three longitudinal profiles of near-streambed water temperature collected at ambient velocity along the right bank, thalweg, and left bank of the Quillayute River and (2) continuous monitoring of water temperature during the late summer. Continuous temperature monitors will be deployed at two to three depths of the channel. The placement of these monitors will be informed by the location of cold-water anomalies measured by the longitudinal profiles collected in Task 1 and some of these monitors will be co-located at potential habitat restoration sites being considered by the Quileute Tribe and National Park Service.
The Issue: The Quillayute River supports habitat for migrating, spawning, and rearing steelhead and salmon. All six miles of the river are influenced by tides, which influence its stage, discharge, and exchange with groundwater. The Quillayute River, like many salmonid-bearing rivers in the Pacific Northwest, is projected to warm in the coming decades due to projected increases in atmospheric temperatures and concomitant decreases and earlier melt of snowpack.
How USGS will help: This study will provide the Quileute Tribe with the present occurrence and distribution of cold-water refuges within the Quillayute River to guide current habitat restoration efforts and document present conditions for comparison to future conditions.
Problem
The Quillayute River provides important habitat for anadromous steelhead and salmon for which the Quileute Tribe maintains treaty-protected fisheries at usual and accustomed areas. These fisheries are currently at risk during the late summer, as current and projected future water temperatures within the Quillayute River, as measured at the segment-scale and larger, can exceed the tolerance of steelhead and salmon. The occurrence and persistence of cold-water refuges that are significantly cooler than ambient water temperatures of the Quillayute are therefore important to document, protect, and enhance through stream restoration projects that also serve to protect critical infrastructure within the Quillayute valley.
Objectives
The objectives of this project are to 1) quantify the longitudinal and lateral variability of water temperature along the six miles of Quillayute River between the confluence of the Sol Duc and Bogachiel Rivers to its outlet at the Pacific Ocean and parts of the lower Sol Duc and Bogachiel Rivers and to 2) quantify hyporheic and groundwater/surface-water exchange at proposed log jam and wood placements. Water temperature will be measured during the late summer when water temperatures are near their annual thermal maximum and during different tidal cycles which affect the stage, discharge, and groundwater/surface-water exchange within the Quillayute River. Large-scale, one-dimensional characterizations of water temperature covering the six-mile length of the Quillayute River will be used to inform where continuous temperature monitors are placed. The Quileute Tribe is planning to monitor shallow subsurface temperatures, both before and after instream restoration, at predicted post-restoration scour zones. This information will be used to examine whether scour pools generated by large wood placement allow hyporheic water to discharge to the stream.
Relevance and Benefits
The objectives of this study are consistent with the national USGS mission and goals identified in the USGS Science Strategy document (USGS, 2007) to monitor and report on the state of the Nation’s terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems and to study the causes and consequences of ecological change. This study will provide the Quileute Tribe with the present occurrence and distribution of cold-water refuges within the Quillayute River to guide current habitat restoration efforts and document present conditions for comparison to future conditions. This study is appropriate for the role of the USGS in the Cooperative Water Program because it advances analytical methodology for understanding hydrologic processes and will contribute to the scientific basis for understanding the effects of groundwater/surface water interactions and geomorphic conditions on water-temperature in a tidally influenced river.
Approach
The spatial distribution of water-temperature will be quantified using two complimentary approaches: (1) three longitudinal profiles of near-streambed water temperature collected at ambient velocity along the right bank, thalweg, and left bank of the Quillayute River and (2) continuous monitoring of water temperature during the late summer. Continuous temperature monitors will be deployed at two to three depths of the channel. The placement of these monitors will be informed by the location of cold-water anomalies measured by the longitudinal profiles collected in Task 1 and some of these monitors will be co-located at potential habitat restoration sites being considered by the Quileute Tribe and National Park Service.