Section  319
               NONPOINT SOURCE PROGRAM SUCCESS STORY
 Stakeholders Implement Practices to Reduce Bacteria in the Tillamook River
Waterbody  Improved
                                High bacteria levels from livestock and human sources caused
                                Oregon's Tillamook River and several of its tributaries to violate
water quality standards, prompting the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ) to
add these waters to Oregon's Clean Water Act (CWA) section 303(d) list of impaired waters in 1998.
With support from multiple organizations, landowners installed best management practices (BMPs)
throughout the watershed. Data analyses show that bacteria levels declined significantly between
1999 and 2012. The downward trends are expected to continue; the Tillamook River and many of its
tributaries should consistently meet recreation water  quality standards for bacteria in the near future.
 Problem
                                                          Tillamook River Watershed
 The 62-square-mile Tillamook River watershed flows
 into Tillamook Bay on Oregon's coast (Figure 1). The
 Tillamook River Basin includes 45 square miles (mi2)
 of forest, 13 mi2 of agriculture and approximately
 1.6 mi2 each of rural residential and rural industrial
 land uses. The river offers salmon and trout habitat
 and feeds into shellfish waters. The public uses the
 river for swimming and wading.

 Oregon's bacteria water quality criteria for recre-
 ational contact use and aquatic life requires that the
 30-day log mean should not exceed 126 Escherichia
 co/i counts per 100 milliliters (ml), based on a mini-
 mum of five samples; and no single sample shall
 exceed 406 £ co/i counts per 100 ml.

 Data collected at river mile 13 of the Tillamook River
 between 1986 and 1990 showed that 36 percent
 (8 of 22) of values violated the applicable bacteria
 water quality criteria in fall, winter and spring. Data
 collected from 1986 to 1989 showed that 80 per-
 cent (8 of 10) of values exceeded the criteria  in the
 summer. As a result, ODEQ added an 18.5-mile seg-
 ment of the Tillamook River (OR-1238834454692-
 0-18.5) to the CWA section 303(d) list in 1998
 for bacteria. Because data showed that several
 Tillamook River tributaries (Killam, Simmons, Mill
 and Bewley creeks) also failed to meet bacteria
 standards, ODEQ added them to the 1998 CWA
 section 303(d) list as well.
                                                 0       2   3 Miles
 Project Highlights
 The Tillamook Bay National Estuary Program, now
 known as the Tillamook Estuaries Partnership (TEP),
 worked closely with community, state and federal
                                            Figure 1. BMPs installed throughout the Tillamook River Basin
                                            (2002-2012).
                                            entities to develop and implement the Tillamook Bay
                                            Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan
                                            beginning in 1999. ODEQ completed a Tillamook Bay
                                            watershed total maximum daily load (TMDL) for tem-
                                            perature and bacteria in 2001 (addresses all Bay riv-
                                            ers, including the Tillamook River). Also in 2001, the
                                            U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resource
                                            Conservation Service (NRCS) and the Tillamook Soil
                                            and Water Conservation District (SWCD) published a
                                            Watershed Plan/Environmental Assessment for the
                                            Lower Tillamook Bay watershed. The 2001 document
                                            identified agricultural practices and restoration activi-
                                            ties that must be implemented to address TMDL-
                                            related issues.

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In 2001 TEP began working with Oregon State
University on a 3-year genetic marker study on bacte-
ria in the watershed. The study found that bacteria in
the upper Tillamook River came from ruminant (i.e.,
cattle, sheep, antelopes, deer) sources, while that in
the lowerTillamook River came from both humans
and ruminants. Using these data, watershed manag-
ers began targeting practices to reduce bacteria.

Between 2002 and 2012, the TEP and Tillamook
County SWCD (funded through the CWA section
319 grant program  and in cooperation  with federal,
state and local partners) worked with landowners to
address bacteria sources by implementing projects
such as removing invasive plants and restoring
native plants in riparian and other sensitive areas
(at 27 sites) and fencing out livestock and restoring
native vegetation around streams (at two sites).
Other partner projects included replacing or modify-
ing 16 culverts to reduce flooding and  erosion, add-
ing one spillway to  reduce flooding on agricultural
lands, and decommissioning two roads to reduce
sedimentation (see Figure 1). Both the TEP and
SWCD conducted numerous education and out-
reach activities in the Tillamook River and greater
Tillamook Bay watersheds, including distributing
fact sheets, hosting field trips, holding workshops
and classroom-based discussions, and publishing
articles in local newspapers.
Table 1. Data analyses show that bacteria levels have
dropped significantly in the Tillamook River subbasin
Results
Stakeholders' efforts to reduce bacteria pollution
are working. Since 1997, TEP has collected monitor-
ing data from 10 stations throughout the watershed
(extending from the river's mouth to its headwater
tributaries). ODEQ performed a Seasonal Kendall
trend analysis test on the data from all 10 monitor-
ing stations. This statistical test determines if the
bacteria levels are generally increasing or decreasing
over time (and assigns  a confidence level associated
with the trend). Although no stations consistently
meet the bacteria water quality criteria for recreation,
all stations but one show a significant decreasing
trend in bacteria counts over time Table 1. A sample
of site-specific data can be seen in Figure 2.


Partners and Funding
Watershed  partners have included the Tillamook
SWCD, TEP, NRCS, ODEQ, Oregon Department
of Agriculture, Oregon  Department of Forestry,
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Oregon
Impaired Water
Tillamook River
Tillamook River
Killam Creek
Fawcett Creek2
Bewley Creek
Monitoring
Sites
TLO, TL1.TL2,
TL4, TL7
TL10
TL11
TL12
TL13
Data Collection
Period
1999-2012
2003-2012
2003-2012
2003-2012
2003-2012
Bacteria Reductions: Seasonal
Kendall Test Confidence Level1
99%
99%
95%
99%
80%
  The confidence level indicates the probability that the values are correctly
  showing a decreasing trend.

  Not listed as impaired for recreational use; however, this water is included in
  the TMDL. Data collected show periodic exceedances of the recreation water
  quality standard since 2003.
                        Tillamook River TLO
   2000

   1000
 g
 = 200
           All Seasons
           Seasonal Sen Slope
                                                                                           Seasonal Kendall (SKJ
                                                                                           Slope= -21.83926
                                                                                                          Z= -5.610 Signif 99
                                                                                                          2xP = 2.02E  -8
                             05  06   07   08   09   10   11   12
                             Year
Figure 2. Seasonal Kendall test results for site TLO (1999-2012)
on the lowerTillamook River main stem.
Watershed Enhancement Board, Bureau of Land
Management, EPA, city of Tillamook, Federal
Emergency Management Agency, Oregon Parks and
Recreation Department, Oregon Solutions, Tillamook
Bay Watershed Council, Tillamook County, U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service, Tillamook County Creamery
Association, the Northwest Oregon Restoration
Partnership and private landowners.

The TEP and Tillamook SWCD and their partners
have spent approximately $2.6 million restoring and
protecting the Tillamook River watershed. Work
included 29 projects (at a cost of $234,970) that used
CWA section 319 as a portion of the funding  source.
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               O
     U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
     Office of Water
     Washington, DC

     EPA841-F-15-001V
     April 2015
For additional information contact:
York Johnson
Oregon Department of Environmental Quality
503-322-2222
Johnson. york@deq.state.or.us

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