About the Program
PAWMAP began in 2010 and systematically measures changes in stream habitat, water quality, and biological communities over time. PAWMAP samples the following features along perennial (year-round) and intermittent (temporary or seasonal) streams across Portland:
- Water quality, including temperature, nutrients, oxygen, bacteria, and metals
- In-stream habitat
- Riparian habitat
- Fish
- Macroinvertebrates
- Riparian birds
Why do we monitor streams?
Environmental Services' mission is to protect public health and the environment. By monitoring the health of our streams, we are able to collect data and information that guide City actions and decisions and help us carry out that mission.
Monitoring helps establish the baseline health of our streams and their current health and then guides decisions to get us where we want our streams' health to be. By monitoring over time, we can track progress toward our goals and adjust course as needed.
The monitoring data collected as part of PAWMAP is also key to meeting the City's regulatory requirements. The City's stormwater permit issued by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality requires the City to conduct environmental monitoring. The City's Monitoring Plan relies on the data collected by PAWMAP to meet these regulatory obligations.
What about birds, bugs, and fish?
One of the central principles of the City's approach is that the health of a stream is best measured by the biological communities that live in and beside it, including people, fish, bugs, and birds. This approach is consistent with the Clean Water Act's objective to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation's waters. Biological communities are the cornerstone of the Clean Water Act's water quality standards, with their health measured by how pollution affects specific organisms.
Explore the avian data collected by PAWMAP in the Riparian Bird Communities Storymap or the PAWMAP Avian Data Dashboard.
Riparian Bird Communities Storymap
How do we use the PAWMAP data?
PAWMAP data are a key input into Portland's Watershed Report Cards. The Watershed Report Cards provide an overview of watershed health in the city. These science-based report cards summarize the complex scientific information collected by PAWMAP and other data sources into a more accessible and understandable index that can be tracked over time. The report cards are a way for people to learn more about Portland's environment and how the City promotes healthy watersheds.
Monitoring plays a central role in guiding watershed planning. The City of Portland developed a scientific framework detailing the role of monitoring in watershed planning. The framework was reviewed by an Independent Science Panel and approved by City Council. It describes the science guiding the City's approach to restoring our urban watersheds. The full framework can be viewed in this document.
How healthy are Portland streams?
Like most urban streams, the health of Portland streams is poor. Urbanization is one of the most intensive forms of land use, and studies document a predictable set of impacts on streams that typically occur as watersheds become urbanized. These include quick changes in the amount of water flowing in the stream, degraded stream and riparian habitat, elevated pollutants, warm water, and invasive plants and animals. These effects are consistent enough across urban streams that the term "urban stream syndrome" has been used to describe it.
Being in the heart of an urban area, Portland streams show many signs of the urban stream syndrome. Common water quality problems include high summer water temperatures, elevated pathogens, and eutrophication, which is the overproduction of plants and algae due to high levels of nutrients. Stream habitat typically has inadequate amounts of large wood to sustain habitat-forming processes, banks are often hardened or eroded, and many streamside areas lack the forests critical to supporting healthy streams. Because of these conditions, stream biological communities are often degraded, and the fish and aquatic insects that live in streams score poorly compared to healthy regional stream communities.
One of PAWMAP's most important functions is documenting how Portland streams provide valuable habitat to regional fish and wildlife. Insect communities in some Forest Park streams meet regional benchmarks for healthy streams, fish communities in Johnson Creek and the West Hills are still dominated by native species, salmon still rear and spawn in Portland, and cutthroat trout are present across many West Hills streams.
Want to learn more?
You can explore the findings of our watershed monitoring in Portland's Watershed Report Cards, or learn more about the different monitoring phases at Monitoring and Taking Care of Site After Watershed Restoration.