programs

Monitoring Program

The Mid Klamath Watershed Council conducts various forms of monitoring for all of our volunteer and paid projects.

Currently MKWC is involved in the development of a multi-party monitoring program for the Happy Camp Fire Protection Commercial Thinning Project, being implemented on the Klamath National Forest near Happy Camp. MKWC will be assisting in collecting data on representative plots throughout the project area. Upslope monitoring of this type is key to true adaptive management as it provides a feedback loop for management to modify activities in current and subsequent projects, depending on how the specific objectives are being met.

For our Fire Safe Council projects, permanent photopoints are established to document before, during, and after treatments are implemented. We also use these photopoints to show how our fuelbreaks perform over time, going back years later to compare vegetative response to treatments at different sites.

MKWC also uses photopoint documentation to show the effectiveness of invasive plant treatments and riparian plantings over time. For our thermal refugia enhancements, monitoring changes in water temperature, area of thermal refugia before and after treatment, and fish presence/abundance at creek mouths indicates the effectiveness of treatment.

Confluence of Dillon Creek and the Klamath River

Photo documentation and analysis are important monitoring components which guide MKWC's Bella Vista Mid Klamath Creek Mouth Assessment Project.  Through photo analysis MKWC is able to identify which tributaries are good candidates for hand work, as well as create a database of what individual creek mouths look like from year to year.  If you would like to see a slide show of 16 different creek mouth panoramas taken by Mike Hentz for the Bella Vista Mid Klamath Creek Mouth Assessment Project CLICK HERE.

Panorama of Lower Rock Creek

In cooperation with the USFS and the Karuk Tribe Department of Natural Resources, MKWC volunteers monitor water quality and quantity by assisting with low flow measurements on Mid Klamath tributaries in the summer, downloading remote temperature data loggers, and identifying and tracking point-source pollutants.