Public Works Water Resources staff is working on riparian habitat enhancement through future Streambanking and Riparian Incentives. The goal of these programs is to protect, enhance, and acquire streamside areas for habitat, reducing stream temperatures, and stabilizing streambanks. Public Works Operations staff is working to complete a reach analysis of streams within our Urban Growth Boundary using the Unified Stream Assessment (USA) methodology developed by the Center for Watershed Protection. There is a need to investigate each reach of our streams and determine what restoration is needed, recognizing that the built environment provides significant constraints to the level of restoration that is practical and sustainable to achieve. The reach analysis provides an aerial map of existing conditions and can be used for planning and recommending future improvements. The methodology for the reach analysis was developed and used in the Pringle Creek watershed during the summer of 2007.
The Glen-Gibson Watershed’s reach analysis is planned for the spring/summer of 2008. Additional watersheds will be added during succeeding years, depending on resource availability. Recent studies of streams within Salem’s UGB have documented significant impacts from urbanization such as erosion, lack of shade, presence of invasive species, and water quality impacts.
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