Clark County to restart stream monitoring program

After about a two-year hiatus, Clark County Environmental Services is going to restart a stream monitoring program at about 50 sites in the county’s 10 watersheds.

“”We’re very excited about it, I mean, really, very excited about it,” said Don Benton, Environmental Services director. “It’s the most scientifically defensible measure of what we actually do.”

Monitoring will help the county understand the health of many local streams and rivers. The work begins this year and will play out over the course of five years.

At the end of the five-year monitoring period, Environmental Services will create a report detailing the overall health of the county’s rivers and streams. The watersheds to be monitored are: the North Fork and East Fork of the Lewis River, Salmon Creek, Washougal River, Columbia Slope, Lacamas Creek, Gibbons Creek, Burnt Bridge Creek, West Slope and Vancouver Lake/Lake River.

The monitoring will be in addition to the outfall monitoring the county is required to do by the Washington Department of Ecology.

Stream monitoring was discontinued in September 2013 because of budgetary issues, and Ecology wanted more emphasis from the county on outfall monitoring written into its stormwater permit.

The county measures flow, biological health and water quality to build an overall rating for a watershed. In 2010, the county rated the watersheds as fair on a scale of poor, fair and good.

According to Benton, the two-year gap in stream monitoring data won’t have a big effect on county scientists’ ability to understand the health of local waterways.

The county plans to place monitoring stations in the next several months.

“I’m anxious to get our first readings,” he said.