reduce runoff.
Pesticide presence in Amazon Creek, the Long Tom’s largest tributary, has been the focus of one of Oregon’s Pesticide Stewardship Partnerships (PSPs). since 2011. Amazon Creek drains approximately 70% of the City of Eugene and about 23 miles of agricultural land downstream. The PSP aims to monitor pesticides at locations throughout the Amazon Creek Watershed, determine which chemicals are of greatest concern to local water quality, and communicate results to local stakeholders to support and promote voluntary practices to help protect local water quality.
The goal of the PSP is to monitor for pesticides in Amazon Creek to determine what chemicals are impacting water quality in the area. Using this data, we can direct our outreach to address commonly found pesticides and their sources.
One early impact of the Amazon PSP was a greater understanding of the enormous role of urban land uses in sourcing and transporting pesticides and other water quality impairments to local waterways. We developed our Trout Friendly Landscapes program to address urban pesticide inputs by working with local landscape companies, businesses, and commercial property owners to voluntarily reduce or eliminate pesticide use on their properties. Additionally, we conduct outreach to local agricultural growers to share our data and identify ways to reduce pesticide loss to local waterways.
Resources:
Oregon Department of Environmental Quality’s PSP Data Viewer: All monitoring results from all PSPs are readily accessible thanks to this tool from the DEQ. The data viewer creates custom graphical summaries of PSP data based on user input (locations, pesticides of interest, and timeframe), always summarized in reference to applicable ecological benchmarks. The website also provides helpful reference guides for using and interpreting results from the data viewer.
The Oregon IPM Center’s Solve Pest Problems Tool: This online tool offers research-based solutions to help the public solve weed and pest problems in their homes and gardens.
For more information, contact:
Amanda Reinholtz
River Scientist and GIS Specialist
amanda at longtom.org
