Types of Monitoring

Different kinds of monitoring answer different questions and provide different levels of detail.

• Status and trends monitoring is designed to answer questions about the overall condition of watersheds or the current size of salmon populations. This type of monitoring describes the overall baseline status and long-term trends of watersheds and salmon populations. See reports.
• Targeted monitoring tracks conditions at specific sites. This type of monitoring is used to track permit compliance, such as looking at what's happening at a sewer outfall, to identify suspected problems, to find the best sites for protection in the most important watersheds.
• Effectiveness monitoring provides information about whether a type of improvement project has been effective in meeting its objectives. For example, to see if planting trees along a river will improve salmon habitat, scientists will measure the water temperature, amount of food, clarity of the water before and after a riverbank has been planted. See reports.
• Intensive monitoring tests cause-and-effect relationships between habitat restoration and actual fish production. These programs are intended to answer questions about how habitat restoration affects actual fish production. See reports.
• Implementation monitoring tracks whether or not actions were implemented as planned. It answers questions about whether the projects did what they said they would do and whether standards are being met.