Abstract
A series of workshops have provided extensive feedback on a recently published manual, Monitoring Guidelines to Evaluate Effects of Forestry Activities on Streams in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska (Guidelines) (MacDonald et al., 1991). These workshops and other discussions have led to the identification of fourteen additional ‘lessons’ for monitoring. These lessons are concepts which either were not incorporated into the Guidelines, were not sufficiently emphasized, or which are needed to put the Guidelines in context. The topics include: monitoring as a continuum; defining objectives and hypotheses; peer review; uncertainty and risk; upslope vs. instream monitoring; photo sequences; scale considerations; data storage, data interpretation, and data base management; ‘activities monitoring’; and personal commitment as a critical component in monitoring projects. Many of these lessons might appear self-evident, but our experience indicates that they are often ignored. Like the Guidelines, these lessons are widely applicable and should be explicitly recognized when formulating and conducting monitoring projects.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Benda, L.: 1990, ‘The Influence of Debris Flows on Channels and Valley Floors in the Oregon Coast Range, U.S.A.’, Earth Surf. Proc. and Landforms 15, 457–466.
Clifton, C.: 1989, ‘Effects of Vegetation and Land Use on Channel Morphology’. In: Gresswell, R.E. (Ed.), Riparian Resource Management, U.S. Bureau of Land Management, Billings, Montana, pp. 121–129.
Cullen, P.: 1991, ‘Biomonitoring and Environmental Management’, Envir. Monit. and Assess. 14, 107–114.
EPA: 1986, Quality Criteria for Water: 1986, EPA 440/5-86-001, Office of Water Regulations and Standards, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C.
EPA: 1988, Introduction to Water Quality Standards. EPA 440/5-88-089, Office of Water Regulation and Standards, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C.
EPA: 1989, Rapid Bioassessment Protocols for Use in Streams and Rivers: Benthic Macroinvertebrates and Fish. EPA/444/4-89-001, Office of Water Regulation and Standards, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C.
EPA: 1990, Biological Criteria. EPA-440/5-90-004, Office of Water Regulation and Standards, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C.
Hunt, B.: 1990, ‘An Approximation for the Bank Storage Effect’, Water Resour. Res. 26 (11), 2769–2775.
Kunkle, S., Johnson, W.S., and Flora, M.: 1987, Monitoring Stream Water for Land Use Impacts: A Training Manual for Natural Resource Management Specialists. International Forestry, U.S. Forest Service, and International Park Affairs, U.S. National Park Service, Washington, D.C.
Lisle, T.E.: 1982, ‘Effects of Aggradation and Degradation on Riffle-Pool Morphology in Natural Gravel Channels, Northwestern California’, Water Resour. Res. 18 (6), 1643–1651.
MacDonald, L.H.: 1989, ‘Cumulative Watershed Effects: The Implications of Scale’, poster paper presented at Fall Meeting, Amer. Geo. Un., San Francisco, CA. Abstract in Eos 70 (43), 1114–1115.
MacDonald, L.H.: 1992, ‘Sediment Monitoring: Reality and Hope’, invited paper presented at the EPA/U.S. Forest Service Technical Workshop on Sediments, Feb. 3–7, Corvallis, OR. In press.
MacDonald, L.H., Smart, A., and Wissmar, R.C.: 1991, Monitoring Guidelines to Evaluate Effects of Forestry Activities on Streams in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. EPA/910/9-91-001, NPS Section, U.S. EPA Region 10, Seattle, WA. 166 pp.
Megahan, W.F.: 1982, ‘Channel Sediment Storage Behind Obstructions in Forested Drainage Basins Draining the Granitic Bedrock of the Idaho Batholith’. In: Swanson, F.J., et al. (Eds.), Sediment Budgets and Routing in Forested Drainage Basins, USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-141, Portland, OR, pp. 114–121.
Megahan, W.F., Potyondy, J.P., and Seyedbagheri, K.A.: 1992, ‘Best Management Practices and Cumulative Effects from Sedimentation in the South Fork Salmon River: An Idaho Case Study’. In: Naiman, R. (Ed.), New Perspectives for Watershed Management, Springer-Verlag, N.Y., pp. 399–412.
Ponce, S.L.: 1980a, Water Quality Monitoring Programs. USDA Forest Service Tech. Pap. WSDG-TP-00002. Fort Collins, CO. 66 pp.
Ponce, S.L.: 1980b, Statistical Methods Commonly Used in Water Quality Data Analysis. USDA Forest Service Tech. Pap. WSDG-TP-00001. Fort Collins, CO. 136 pp.
Swanson, F.J., Benda, L.E., Duncan, S.H., Grant, G.E., Megahan, W.F., Reid, L.M., and Ziemer, R.R.: 1987, ‘Mass Failures and Other Processes of Sediment Production in Pacific Northwest Forest Landscapes’. In: Salo, E.O. and Cundy, T.W. (Eds.), Streamside Management: Forestry and Fisheries Interactions, Contr. No. 57, Inst. of Forest Resources, Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA, pp. 9–38.
Walling, D.E. and Webb, B.W.: 1981, ‘The Reliability of Suspended Sediment Load Data’. In: Erosion and Sediment Transport Measurement, Int. Assoc. of Hydrol. Sci. Publ. No. 133, Wallingford, England, pp. 177–194.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Macdonald, L.H., Smart, A. Beyond the Guidelines: Practical lessons for monitoring. Environ Monit Assess 26, 203–218 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00547499
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00547499