Washington Lakes Research Articles

Mule Deer Habitat Selection Patterns in Northcentral Washington

Habitat selection and movement patterns of mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) were studied along Rufus Woods Lake (RWL) in northcentral Washington to evaluate the effect of habitat loss resulting from water impoundment. Deer preferred the Conifer and Riparian cover types and the Breaks Land Form during summer and winter. Basin Big Sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) and Antelope Bitterbrush (Purshia tridentata) cover types also were preferred during winter. Orchard development in these areas eliminated the greatest amount of habitat for the RWL mule deer herd. J. WILDL. MANAGE. 51(1):46-51 In April 1981, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE) implemented a 3-m pool rise on RWL, an impoundment created in 1959 on the Columbia River in northcentral Washington. The purpose of the pool rise was to provide additional electrical generating capacity. The 1959 impoundment flooded 1,500 ha and the pool rise inundated an additional 223 ha of land that was important wintering range for mule deer. This study evaluated the effects of the impoundment and pool rise on mule deer habitat. This research was supported by the Colville Confederated Tribes under contract from the COE, Seattle District. We thank W. R. Heig for providing field assistance, M. D. Samuel and R. K. Steinhorst for help with statistical procedures, and D. B. Griffith for a review of this manuscript. S. L. Judd, Colville Confederated Tribes, provided administrative support for the project.

A WIND–PHYTOPLANKTON MODEL FOR LAKE WATER QUALITY MANAGEMENT

ABSTRACT Models of wind-induced vertical mixing and nitrogen-limited phytoplankton growth produced data for a management model for Moses Lake, a hypereutrophic lake in eastern Washington. This approach preserved the simplicity and flexibility of the management model without sacrificing the advantages offered by complex models. The model considers two-week periods and was calibrated and verified with limitations. While the model predicts bloom times and maximum well, the decay of blooms is not predicted well in one out of three cases. The model evaluated scenarios of dilution water inputs and best management practices strategies. For the Moses Lake watershed a constant dilution water addition of 5.7 m3/sec produced significantly greater chlorophyll a reductions when compared against no dilution or 30 m3/sec springtime dilution scenerios. Reductions in chlorophyll a were demonstrated with decreased nutrient loading into the lake (such as controlled fertilizer additions to irrigated land).

Case for periodic, colossal jökulhlaups from Pleistocene glacial Lake Missoula

Research Article| October 01, 1985 Case for periodic, colossal jökulhlaups from Pleistocene glacial Lake Missoula RICHARD B. WAITT, JR. RICHARD B. WAITT, JR. 1U.S. Geological Survey, David A. Johnston Cascades Volcano Observatory, 5400 MacArthur Boulevard, Vancouver, Washington 98661 Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar GSA Bulletin (1985) 96 (10): 1271–1286. https://doi.org/10.1130/0016-7606(1985)96<1271:CFPCJF>2.0.CO;2 Article history first online: 01 Jun 2017 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share MailTo Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Search Site Citation RICHARD B. WAITT; Case for periodic, colossal jökulhlaups from Pleistocene glacial Lake Missoula. GSA Bulletin 1985;; 96 (10): 1271–1286. doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/0016-7606(1985)96<1271:CFPCJF>2.0.CO;2 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietyGSA Bulletin Search Advanced Search Abstract Two classes of field evidence firmly establish that late Wisconsin glacial Lake Missoula drained periodically as scores of colossal jökulhlaups (glacier-outburst floods). (1) More than 40 successive, flood-laid, sand-to-silt graded rhythmites accumulated in back-flooded valleys in southern Washington. Hiatuses are indicated between flood-laid rhythmites by loess and volcanic ash beds. Disconformities and nonflood sediment between rhythmites are generally scant because precipitation was modest, slopes gentle, and time between floods short. (2) In several newly analyzed deposits of Pleistocene glacial lakes in northern Idaho and Washington, lake beds comprising 20 to 55 varves (average = 30–40) overlie each successive bed of Missoula-flood sediment. These and many other lines of evidence are hostile to the notion that any two successive major rhythmites were deposited by one flood; they dispel the notion that the prodigious floods numbered only a few.The only outlet of the 2,500-km3 glacial Lake Missoula was through its great ice dam, and so the dam became incipiently buoyant before the lake could rise enough to spill over or around it. Like Grímsvötn, Iceland, Lake Missoula remained sealed as long as any segment of the glacial dam remained grounded; when the lake rose to a critical level ∼600 m in depth, the glacier bed at the seal became buoyant, initiating underflow from the lake. Subglacial tunnels then grew exponentially, leading to catastrophic discharge. Calculations of the water budget for the lake basin (including input from the Cordilleran ice sheet) suggest that the lakes filled every three to seven decades. The hydrostatic prerequisites for a jökulhlaup were thus re-established scores of times during the 2,000- to 2,500-yr episode of last-glacial damming.J Harlen Bretz's “Spokane flood” outraged geologists six decades ago, partly because it seemed to flaunt catastrophism. The concept that Lake Missoula discharged regularly as jökulhlaups now accords Bretz's catastrophe with uniformitarian principles. This content is PDF only. Please click on the PDF icon to access. First Page Preview Close Modal You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.

Barrier Net to Reduce Entrainment Losses of Adult Kokanee from Banks Lake, Washington

Abstract A barrier net 1,341 m long was developed to reduce the entrainment of mature kokanee (Oncorhynchus nerka) into the main irrigation canal intake of Banks Lake in Washington. The dacron net was constructed of 83-mm mesh (stretch measure) and relied on the visual avoidance response exhibited by salmonids. The net was hauled by machine and cleaning was done with high-pressure water jets. The screening efficiency of the barrier was evaluated by numerous methods including sampling the fishes entrained in the irrigation canal with large nets, mark and recapture of adult kokanee in the reservoir, estimates of the number of beach spawners, sonic tracking near the barrier, census of the sport fishery, and mortality of kokanee gilled in the barrier. The annual canal entrainment of kokanee declined from an average of 64% before installation of the net to 10% afterwards, based on 4 years of catch data. An estimated 35,391 adult kokanee, based on mark-and-recapture estimates, were retained in the lake during t...

Recent sedimentation and its relationship with primary productivity in four western Washington lakes1

Studies of sedimentation processes in four western Washington lakes reveal up to sixfold variations in sedimentation rates over the past 130 years of settlement in the region. These variations in sedimentation can be linked with known changes in land use in the watersheds, especially logging, which appears to have accelerated erosion.Contemporary deposition of phosphorus into profundal sediments is positively correlated with phytoplankton productivity in the four lakes. If a similar relationship existed in the past when sedimentation rates of phosphorus were different, then increases in primary productivity from twofold to fourfold could have occurred in three of the lakes since about 1840.

The relationship between pigmentation and reproduction in two species of Diaptomus (Copepoda)1

Adult Diaptomus sicilis and Diaptomus nevadensis in two central Washington lakes show a seasonal range in body pigmentation: from high throughout the year to markedly seasonal with a winter and early spring peak. Both species have winter‐spring peaks in reproduction in both lakes. Pigment is accumulated by adult females and concentrated in their eggs and nauplii. During the day, the nauplii are at the surface of the lakes where visible light is intense, and it is suggested that the carotenoid functions as photoprotection. Seasonality of adult pigment content varies as a function of predation pressure. In a population experiencing little predation, adults are highly pigmented throughout the year; as predation pressure on the populations increases, the timing of pigmentation maxima contracts to the period of reproduction.

Heavy metal accumulation in the sediments of a Washington lake.

Freshwater and marine sediments are known to be potential sinks for heavy metals discharged into the atmosphere and into water through man's activities. Under natural conditions lake sediments may concentrate heavy metals to a certain extent over surrounding geological material.

Nitrogen fixation in lakes of the Lake Washington drainage basin

Biological nitrogen fixation rates have been measured periodically in the epilimnetic waters of four Washington lakes using the acetylene reduction technique. Nitrogen fixation was detected regularly during the summer in the mesotrophic lakes, Lake Sammamish and Lake Washington, but only occasionally in the oligotrophic lakes, Lake Chester Morse and Findley Lake. The contribution of fixed nitrogen in these lakes was estimated to be less than 1% of the total annual nitrogen input from other sources. Comparison of these lakes with others for which appropriate data are available suggest that the low rate of fixation is consistent with the types and abundance of the algal flora and the trophic conditions of the lakes.

Nutrient Supply and the Production and Biomass of Algae in Four Washington Lakes

Plankton algal biomass was linearly related to phosphorus supply when biomass was normalized for water retention time. Thus, there seems to be no critical nutrient supply rate below which there is complete assimilation by the food web, although summer productivity often remains high. Uptake and growth occurred even at very low nutrient concentrations in a mesotrophic lake. However, algal biomass accumulated in proportion to increases in nutrient supply and productivity, because blue green algae were increasingly favored as the supply rate, particularly of P04-P, was raised, and net phytoplankton including blue greens, were poorly utilized by zooplankton. As eutrophication continues the plankton algae proportionally increase because of greater nutrient supply and increased blocking of nutrients to higher trophic levels.

Sacramento River Deep Water Ship Channel: Functional Planning

Channel will be 30 ft deep and 200 to 300 ft wide at bottom connected with harbor and turning basin in Washington Lake; connecting canal 13 ft deep and 120 ft wide at bottom, with 86×640 ft navigation lock between harbor and Sacramento River; description of project, functional requirements, hydraulic studies, estimates of benefits, and comparison of benefits and costs.

Seasonal Characteristics of Two Saline Lakes in Washington

The limnology of two highly saline lakes in Washington was studied in relation to the physical and chemical conditions which influence the growth and distribution of phytoplankton. The lakes were sampled at frequent intervals for a period of more than a year in 1950 and 1951. Morphometric conditions were determined, and routine sampling included measurements of temperature, transparency, oxygen, pH, alkalinity, phosphate, chlorophyll, and quantitative samples of phytoplankton. Lake Lenore, the less saline of the two (T.D.S. 14 g/liter), is shallow and was unstratified during the investigation. Dissolved nutrients were high and showed erratic variations during the summer. The phytoplankton population was taxonomically simple and was made up mainly of two species of diatoms—Amphora sp. which formed the spring bloom, and Chaetoceros elmorei which made up the late summer bloom. Soap Lake is relatively deep, meromictic, and saline (T.D.S. 35 g/liter). Temperature conditions were dichothermic, and the nutrient content was high, especially in the monimolimnion. A winter maximum and a summer minimum was observed in the phytoplankton population, and a change in the biota has been noted during dilution of the lake in recent years. Indication of grazing by zooplankton was found in both lakes.

A Note on the Phytoplankton‐Zooplankton Relationships in Two Lakes in Washington

A Note on the Phytoplankton‐Zooplankton Relationships in Two Lakes in Washington