NCCN Water Quality Monitoring Data Package, 2011-2021

This data package contains North Coast and Cascades Network (NCCN) Inventory and Monitoring Program discrete water quality monitoring tabular data collected during 2011-2021 at Ebey's Landing National Historic Reserve (EBLA), Lewis and Clark National Historical Park (LEWI), Mount Rainier National Park (MORA), North Cascades National Park (NOCA), and Olympic National Park (OLYM).

The protocol, publications, and all other associated links can be found in the project reference at: https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/Reference/Profile/2195538.

The abundance of rivers and streams is a key characteristic of the NCCN. Ninety-four percent of NCCN is federally-designated wilderness and contains some of the most pristine aquatic habitats in the Pacific Northwest. The prevalence of these resources makes water quality a high ecological and management priority.

Rivers and streams integrate the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of the watersheds they drain. This puts them at increased risk to a variety of environmental stressors including atmospheric pollution, flow regime changes, and localized disturbances related to land management activities and recreational use. To address risks from a variety of stressors to these systems, the NCCN developed a Water Quality Monitoring Program and protocol that is focused on monitoring the wadable streams that are the most at risk for water quality impairment.

Data within this package include sampling locations and event conditions, physical habitat and channel characteristics, human influence descriptors, invasive species observations, and water chemistry parameters. The associated continuous temperature data can be found in the NPS-hosted Aquarius database https://irma.nps.gov/aqwebportal.