WATER~Presented by WSU/Whatcom County Cooperative Extension Water touches each of us everyday. We drink it, play in it, use it for commerce and industry as well as relaxation and recreation. Clean water is particularly important to our special quality of life here in Whatcom County. Rivers, lakes, bays and our rainfall help to create our special environment and habitats for wild life. What is a Watershed?
You and the other people who live in your watershed are part of the watershed community. So are the mammals, birds, fish and insects. All depend on the watershed and they in turn influence what happens there. The condition of a watershed determines how well it works for us. When rain falls, a watershed covered with vigorous plants and a layer of dead and decayed vegetation acts like a blotter or sponge. Water sinks deeply into the ground instead of rapidly flowing off the surface and washing soil away. An undisturbed watershed discharges clean water, an essential requirement for all life from the salmon who use of for hatching and rearing to the humans who use it for drinking and recreating. Water is only one product from a watershed. Watersheds provide other valuable and necessary benefits and uses such as trees for lumber, crops, forage, habitat for wildlife and homes for insects. Some of these activities can have a serious impact on the watershed if carried out without awareness and stewardship. Watershed consciousness is an important factor in our management of natural resources. We all need to be aware of the impacts we can have on our water resources. This means taking care of the entire system of the water cycle. Biological Integrity
Aquatic insects (macroinvertebrates) are in integral part of a stream ecosystem. Many spend all or part of their lives in water, usually in the immature phases. A variety of environmental stresses can impact these macroinvertebrate populations. Some bugs such as mayflies, stoneflies, and caddisfly larvae are highly sensitive (intolerant) to changes in stream conditions resulting in poor water quality. Removing streamside vegetation causes a rise in water temperature because trees shade and cool the water. Intolerant insects may leave or die. Other species of bugs such as rat-tailed maggots and midge larvae may thrive in warm or polluted conditions. Water quality researchers test both the chemical nature of the water and the biological nature of what can live in the water. Macroinvertebrate populations are used to monitor changes in stream conditions over time and to assess the cumulative effects of environmental stresses. Poor conditions will likely decrease the diversity of insects found in a stream by decreasing the number of intolerant species and individuals as well as increasing the tolerant species and individuals. For example, if you sample a stream and find primarily mayflies, stoneflies and caddis fly larvae, the water quality is good. If you find maggots, black fly larvae and snails, the water quality is probably poor. Baseline data is essential to accurately assess the health of a specific stream. Adequate oxygen, abundant and diverse food sources, and cool temperatures all characterize a healthy stream. These are the same conditions needed for an abundant and diverse population of intolerant macroinvertebrates and salmonids. ImagineImagine being in the woods by a stream in early summer. Sunlight filters through the trees and reflects on the water. You sit on a rock by the stream dangling your toes in the cool refreshing water. You can hear a low hum of insects all around you. A small salmon fry snaps at a bug on the water surface. A fat green frog catches a damselfly on its tongue and plops back into the stream. Dragonflies dart by and hundreds of mayflies rise and fall together in a silent vibrating cloud. * * This paragraph is adapted from the Pond and Stream Safari Guide to the Ecology of Aquatic Invertebrates, a 4-H Leaders Guide form Cornell Cooperative Extension Would you fish in this stream? Would you eat your catch? Is it a good place to fish? What can you do to protect water and enhance fish? Salmon are particularly persnickety fish. They require streams with high water quality to survive. Good stream for salmon are good streams for people too. Written by:
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Wherever
you live, you live in a watershed and are part of the watershed
community. Simply put, a watershed is a drainage basin, an area
of land from which a stream gets its water supply. A watershed may
be as small as the upland drainage of a farm pond or as large as
the Nooksack River Basin. It then becomes more than just a combination
of hills, valley streams, forest, grass, farm crops, and soil. A
large watershed also includes cities, people, roads and wildlife.
The
quality of a stream's water is a reflection of the land and water
practices in the watershed. If the watershed is polluted, the stream
will be polluted. If the stream is clean, the watershed is probably
clean as well. How do we measure the health of our watersheds? One
way is to look at how well the watershed supports life, or to measure
the biological integrity of the system. 