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Stakeholders Collaborate to Reduce Bacteria Levels
\A/atorhnrl\/ lmnrn\/orl Bacteria from livestock and human sources caused Oregon's Wilson
V v 9101 DOQ y Ml pro /8Q R jver to exceed water quality standards, prompting Oregon's
Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ) to add an 8.5-mile segment of the lower Wilson River
to the state's 1998 Clean Water Act (CWA) section 303(d) list of impaired waters. With support from
multiple organizations, landowners installed best management practices (BMPs) throughout the Wilson
River watershed and beyond. Data show a statistically significant decreasing trend in bacteria levels.
In fact, the river has met water quality standards since 2005. However, ODEQ still lists the river as
impaired while ODEQ performs a final data review and upload to the assessment database.
Problem
The 194-square-mlle Wilson River watershed is
the largest of five main drainage basins feeding
Tillamook Bay on Oregon's northern coast. The
dominant land use in the watershed is state and
federal forestlands (81 percent of the watershed's
total area). Dairy pastures dominate the lowland
areas of the watershed. Development pressures
from the city of Tillamook are also affecting the
lower portions of the watershed.
The Wilson River (Figure 1) is protected for rec-
reational contact use (swimming and wading).
Oregon's recreational use water quality standard
requires that (1) the 3.0-day log mean not exceed
126 Escherichia Coli counts per 100 milliliters (mL)
from a minimum of five samples, and (2) no single
sample exceed 406 E. Coli counts per 100 mL.
In the mid-1990s, data showed that bacteria concen-
trations were relatively low in the upper, forested
part of the watershed. However, data indicated that
bacteria concentrations exceeded water quality stan-
dards throughout the year near the river's mouth.
Therefore, ODEQ added an 8.5-mile segment of
the river (mouth to Little North Fork Wilson River) to
Oregon's 1998 CWA section 303(d) list of impaired
waters.
Figure 1 Oregon's
Wilson River is
popular site for
kayakers and
canoeists.
Project Highlights
The Tillamook Bay National Estuary Program, now
known as the Tillamook Estuaries Partnership (TEP),
worked closely with community, state and federal
entities to develop and Implement the Tillamook
Bay Comprehensive Conservation and Management
Plan beginning in 1999. The plan recommended
63 actions that could help improve water quality,
enhance aquatic habitat and mitigate flooding.
ODEQ completed a Tillamook Bay watershed
total maximum daily load (TMDL) for tem-
perature and bacteria in 2001. Also in 2001, the
U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources
Conservation Service and the Tillamook Soil and
Water Conservation District (SWCD) published a
Watershed Plan/Environmental Assessment for the
Lower Tillamook Bay watershed. That document
outlines agricultural facilities, practices and resto-
ration activities needed to address TMDL-related
water quality issues in the Tillamook Bay watershed.
On a smaller scale, the Tillamook County
Performance Partnership and a local citizens'
group called the Tillamook Bay Watershed Council
(TBWC) developed a watershed assessment report
specifically for the Wilson River in 2001. The report
describes watershed conditions and recommends
actions that address issues of water quality, fisher-
ies and fish habitat, and watershed hydrology.
In 2001 TEP began working with Oregon State
University on a three-year genetic marker study on
bacteria in the watershed. The study indicates that
livestock and other ruminants contributed most
of the bacteria in the lower Wilson River. Using
the data, watershed managers began targeting
practices to reduce bacteria, in 2003 TEP began
offering its Backyard Planting Program (BYPP), a
cost-free, voluntary assistance program to help

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private landowners remove invasive species and
improve habitats for fish and wildlife. The program's
coordinator works with landowners to develop site-
specific riparian restoration plans. Between 2003
and 2007, the program helped plant almost 10,000
trees along more than 17 miles of streams in the
Tillamook Bay watershed.
Between 2002 and 2007 stakeholders implemented
numerous BMPs in the lower Wilson River water-
shed (Figure 2). The TBWC, TEP and Tillamook
SWCD worked with landowners to complete
20 riparian enhancement projects (12 of which were
BYPP projects) that included planting, fencing and
invasive species removal. The projects stabilized
streambanks and removed livestock from the river's
riparian area. In addition, TEP acquired three sensi-
tive wetland parcels, which will be restored in the
coming years and maintained by Tillamook County
as permanent wetland areas.
Legend
Bacteria 303(d) Listing
Project "type
£§> Fenuriu
@ Invasive Removal
Q) Land Acquisition
^ Planting
O Planting and Fencing
Figure 2. Stakeholders completed numerous restoration projects
in the lower Wilson River watershed.
Two wastewater treatment systems discharge to
the Wilson River, including a campground and the
Tillamook County Creamery Association (TCCA).
Improvements to the TCCA system helped to
reduce bacteria levels released to the river.
TBWC is also partnering with the Oregon
Department of Forestry, Bonneville Power
Administration, and Oregon Department of Fish
and Wildlife to remove vehicle access roads and
primitive camping areas from more than four acres
of upper Wilson River riparian areas.
Results
Stakeholders' efforts to target and reduce bacteria
pollution throughout the Tillamook Bay watershed
appear to be working. Data show that bacteria levels
in the Wilson River have met water quality stan-
dards since 2005 (Figure 3). The lower sections of
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
•	*• Office of Water
^	Washington, DC
| |
%	g EPA 8/11 F 10 001A
% PRot*°* January 2010
the other four main tributaries in the Tillamook Bay
watershed—Miami, Kilchis, Trask, and Tillamook
rivers—still violate Oregon's water quality standards
for recreational use; however, data indicate that
bacteria levels in those rivers are declining steadily.
Although the Wilson River now meets standards
for bacteria, It remains on the impaired waters list
until ODEQ does a final review of recent data and
uploads it to ODEQ's assessment database.
Partners and Funding
Numerous partners have worked to restore
Tillamook Bay and its watershed, including the
Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board, Oregon
Department of Agriculture, ODEQ, Oregon
Department of Fish and Wildlife, TEP, Tillamook
County, TBWC, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
(USFWS), TCCA, Tillamook SWCD, Tillamook Native
Plant Cooperative and private landowners.
Partners spent more than $1.4 million restoring and
protecting the lower Wilson River watershed. TEP
spent the majority of the funds ($1.3 million, mostly
through USFWS grant programs) to purchase three
sensitive wetland tracts. Partners also completed
20 riparian restoration projects at a cost of $68,000,
which included $26,000 in CWA section 319 funds;
$13,000 in matching funds from Oregon Watershed
Enhancement Board; and a variety of other federal,
state, private and in-kind funds.
Wilson River Data
• ALL SEASONS
— Seasonal Sen Slope
SEASONAL KENDALL (SKWOC)
Slope = -1.00789
Signif 95%
2xP = 0.0320
10000
WQ Standard: 406 max
WQ Standard: 126 mean
100
10
0.1
97
98
99
00
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
Year
Figure 3. Bacteria levels in the Wilson River have steadily
declined since 1997 and now consistently meet the two-part
recreational use water quality standard, which requires (1) that
the 30-day log mean not exceed 126 £ Coli counts per 100 mL
from a minimum of five samples and (2) that no single sample
exceed 406 £ Coli counts per 100 mL.
For additional information contact:
York Johnson
Oregon Department of Environmental Quality
503-322-2222 • johnson,york@deq.state.or.us

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