{"content":[{"text":"The Oregonian \n Portland watersheds get inaugural report card; city and green leaders \n call it powerful tool \n By Andrew Theen \n May 02, 2015 \n Last October, officials and environmental advocates gathered in Southeast Portland's Westmoreland \n Park to celebrate the completion of a long-desired restoration project in a vulnerable waterway. \n Mike Houck, executive director of Urban Greenspaces Institute, recalled the event as \"amazing.\" Not \n more than 100 feet away from the festivities, Houck said, the fruits of the restoration project were already \n evident as salmon spawned in Crystal Springs, a key tributary to Johnson Creek. \n \"Those kinds of successes are really inspiring,\" Houck said. \n This week, the Bureau of Environmental Services posted its inaugural Watershed Health Index, a detailed \n assessment of water quality, fish and wildlife habitat, and other critical conditions across the city's five \n designated watersheds. \n The report card is a labor of love years in the making, and Houck and city officials hope it both shines a \n light on successes such as Westmoreland Park's salmon spawning grounds, while also highlighting \n problem areas across the city. \n \"I think this will focus our attention on where the challenges are,\" said Commissioner Nick Fish, who \n oversees the bureau. \n Fish said the years of sampling would help guide city leaders in making good policy decisions. \"Good \n policy is driven by good science,\" he said. \n Portland has 300 miles of rivers and streams, with native steelhead and salmon inhabiting nearly 127 \n miles of waterways. Habitat for fish and wildlife is a persistent concern, and city officials say the report \n card could help direct where the city should invest to effect the most change. \n The report card is built on four years of scientific monitoring from 128 locations across the five \n watersheds — the Willamette River, Tryon Creek, Fanno Creek, Johnson Creek and the Columbia \n Slough. \n It comes nearly a decade after the City Council adopted a detailed plan to manage the watersheds. \n City officials ranked each watershed on variables including the temperature of the water, presence of E. \n coli, total mercury, riparian corridors, stream accessibility and other factors. \n At a council meeting last month, Mike Rosen, bureau watershed division manager, said the testing would \n allow the city to track the impact of projects over time. \"We're acknowledging that we live in a system \n that's already impacted because we live in an urban area,\" Rosen said. \n Each watershed receives a letter grade from A to F based on four categories (hydrology, fish and wildlife, \n water quality and habitat). \n Some of the grades aren't flattering. \n Fanno Creek: D-minus in Fish & Wildlife. \"There are only a few fish species, and they are not abundant,\" \n the report reads. \n Willamette River: D in Hydrology. \"Upstream dams, riverfront development in the floodplain, and \n agricultural runoff affect our section of the river but are out of the city's control,\" the report says. \n Johnson Creek: Fish and Wildlife, D+. \"High stream temperatures and lack of large wood limit the ability \n of salmon and other native fish to grow and thrive.\" \n Columbia Slough: Fish and Wildlife, F. \"While a few large natural areas support fish and wildlife, \n inadequate riparian buffers and tree canopy limit overall conditions.\" \n Fish said the tough grades are by design, saying, \"No one will accuse the bureau of grade inflation.\" \n At the council meeting last week, Houck and other environmental leaders praised the city for the report \n card, saying it was a powerful tool with years of important data.","bbox":{"left":0.117631,"top":0.054214,"width":0.7631709999999999,"height":0.8701030000000001}}],"images_bbox":[],"images_bbox_not_text_overlap":[]}