Watershed monitoring is essential to a successful restoration program. Without monitoring how can one determine that the restoration practices are producing the expected outcome? Or what the baseline conditions were before restoration?
The Coquille Watershed Association’s Monitoring program is a combination of basin assessments and restoration effectiveness monitoring. Basin assessments characterize the current condition of the watershed typically through stream and road surveys while restoration effectiveness monitoring measures specific parameters before and after restoration. Restoration effectiveness monitoring gives greater insight into how the restoration has effected the quantity and quality of habitat both positively and negatively. One can think of monitoring as a learning tool for future projects.
Restoration Effectiveness Monitoring