NW Biological Assessment Workgroup

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What is Aquatic Bioassessment?

Who are we?

What's New?

Calendar and Announcements

List of Related Websites

Annual Meeting Information

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Contact: hayslip.gretchen@epa.gov

What is Aquatic Bioassessment?

Aquatic biological assessment (bioassessment) is the use of resident biota to determine the condition of aquatic resources. The information in this home page concentrates primarily on the use of macroinvertebrate, periphyton and fish assemblages in rivers and streams, although many of the principles apply to wetland and lake ecosystems as well.

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Who are we - The Northwest Biological Assessment Workgroup

The purpose of the Northwest Biological Assessment Workgroup (NBAW) is to promote better understanding of the biotic communities in freshwater aquatic ecosystems of the northwest. The NBAW was founded in 1990. The NBAW encourages and facilitates the use of benthic macroinvertebrates and fish assemblages and other biota in the assessment of the condition of freshwater aquatic resources and other environmental and natural resource management decision-making. Membership is open to anyone who is interested in freshwater biotic communities and their role in aquatic ecosystems in the Northwest (generally, but not limited to: Alaska, British Columbia, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and Northern California). Below is a list of agencies and other entities who have participated in our annual meetings over the past few years.

FEDERAL AGENCIES:

Environmental Protection Agency	U.S. Geological Survey
Bureau of Land Management	U.S.D.A. Forest Service
National Park Service	U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Natural Resource Conservation Service	National Marine Fisheries Service

STATE AGENCIES:

Alaska Dept. of Environmental Conservation	California Dept. of Fish and Game
Oregon Dept. of Environmental Quality	Idaho Dept. of Environmental Quality
Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife	Washington Dept. of Ecology
Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife

TRIBAL GOVERNMENTS AND ORGANIZATIONS

Kootenai Tribe of Idaho	Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission
Makah Tribe	Collville Tribes
Nez Perce Tribe	Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe
Quileute Tribe

LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:

City of Bellevue	King County
City of Seattle	City of Boise
Clallam County	Snohomish County

PRIVATE ENTITIES:

Aquatic Biology Associates, Inc.	Dynamac, Inc.
EcoAnalyst	Idaho Power Company
Rhithron Bological Associates	Statistical Design
Weyerhaeuser	Xerces Society
TerraGraphics	KWA Ecological Sciences, Inc.
HDR Inc.	Tetra Tech
ABR Inc.

ACADEMIA:

Oregon State University	Utah State University
University of Washington	Western Washington University
Portland State University	Eastern Washington University
University of Alaska	Idaho State University

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What's new?

November 7-9, 2007.

18th Annual Northwest Biological Assessment Workgroup Meeting

- Cannon Beach, Oregon.

Calendar

November 7-9, 2007.

18th Annual Northwest Biological Assessment Workgroup Meeting

- Cannon Beach, Oregon.

Announcements

Causal Analysis/Diagnosis Decision Information System (CADDIS)

EPA has released a new web-based tool, the Causal Analysis/Diagnosis Decision Information System (CADDIS), which simplifies determining the cause of contamination in impaired rivers, streams and estuaries. Causal analyses look at stressor-response relationships, meaning the effect of a specific substance or activity (stressor) on the environment. Typical water stressors include excess fine sediments, nutrients, or toxic substances. CADDIS is available on EPA's Web pages at:

http://www.epa.gov/caddis

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List of Related Websites

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES/WORKGROUPS:
The following links provide useful information but may be outside the EPA.gov domain.