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An Ecological Assessment of Western Streams and Rivers

View the Ecological Assessment (56 pp, 3.4 Mb, about PDF)


Stoddard, J. L., D. V. Peck, S. G. Paulsen, J. Van Sickle, C. P. Hawkins, A. T. Herlihy, R. M. Hughes, P. R. Kaufmann, D. P. Larsen, G. Lomnicky, A. R. Olsen, S. A. Peterson, P. L. Ringold, and T. R. Whittier.

2005. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC. EPA. 620/R-05/005

In the 30 years since the passage of the Clean Water Act, Congress, the American Public and other interested parties have been asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to describe the condition of the waters in the U.S. They want to know if there is a problem, how big the problem is if there is one, and whether the problem is widespread or occurs in hotspots. Additionally, they have been asking to understand the types of human activities that are affecting streams and rivers, and which are likely to be the most important. These are seemingly simple questions, and yet they have not been answered in a reliable way in the past. This report presents the results of a unique collaboration between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and twelve western States, designed to answer these questions for the rivers and streams of the West.


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