Integrated Aquatic Community and Water Quality Monitoring of Wadeable Streams in the Klamath Network

The long-term sampling protocol for wadeable streams in the Klamath Inventory and Monitoring Network is the result of a collaborative effort of park personnel and the Network staff. This protocol covers five of the six Network park units: Crater Lake National Park, Oregon Caves National Monument, Lassen Volcanic National Park, Redwood National and State Parks, and Whiskeytown National Recreation Area. Lava Beds National Monument is not covered due to lack of surface water resources.
Key steps covered in the narrative include a brief history of ―water quality‖ monitoring and justification for use of key parameters as biomonitoring tools.
An always revisit panel design was chosen over more complicated designs based on: (1) Logistics of site establishment, (2) Trend detection, (3) Conceptual simplicity, and (4) Ease of data analysis. Sampling will occur every three years, in an alternating cycle. Cycle one will include the sampling of Whiskeytown National Recreation Area followed by Lassen Volcanic National Park. Cycle two, in the following year, will include sampling in Oregon Caves National Monument, followed by Redwood National and State Parks and conclude in Crater Lake National Park. This follows a pattern of sampling in lower elevational units early in the season, followed by the higher elevational parks. Target sample size is 30 stream reaches in every park, except Oregon Caves National Monument with a total of three stream reaches.