Page 101 - Mapping the Nation: Taking Climate Action

In 1996, floods killed eight people and caused millions of dollars of damage to public property, infrastructure, businesses, and homes. Willamette University alone suffered $1.2 million in damage to its law library and eight other buildings. About 5,000 residents were forced to evacuate, and 200 houses sustained flood damage. Treatment plants failed, and raw sewage flowed into the river, surged up through maintenance holes, and seeped into homes. Afterward, the city created its first Stream Crew—an initiative that evolved into the internship program that Greer joined. The Stream Crew combines hard work with mobile apps and the latest technology to care for Salem's streams. The team of 14 interns removes trash, clears debris jams, tracks invasive species, collects data, and reports illicit discharges such as leaky sewage pipes that might pollute the water. During the 2017 season, the team removed 5,531 lbs. of trash and cleared 122 stream jams. The vegetation debris they collected filled six dump trucks. This work mitigates flood risk by preventing stream backups, improves water quality by removing trash and pollutants, and improves the city's storm response by collecting data that informs future planning. Competing Priorities Salem has experienced five 100-year floods (floods that have a 1 percent chance of occurring in any year) in the last 150 years, and these massive flood events seem to be accelerating. People find flooding inconvenient at best and deadly at worst. But to the environment, flooding is an essential natural cycle that spreads nutrient-rich soil farther from the rivers to enhance the ecosystem. Although Salem's residents might not always know how to interact with nature, they share an urge to help. "There's not a resident in the city, I don't think, who doesn't love their backyard stream," said Peter Dalrymple, former Stormwater Monitoring Program coordinator at the City of Salem's Public Works Department. Dalrymple observed that balance is key to joining the competing priorities of civilization and the environment— removing debris but preserving the tree canopy above the river to regulate the temperature for fish survival, protecting against flooding but not seeking to prevent it entirely, and planting helpful species while removing invasive ones. Finding that balance requires an understanding of how clashing forces interact. Salem's Public Works Department needs data about what is happening along the 90 miles of streams in its jurisdiction. The intern program helps meet the challenge of gathering that data. Stream Scientists With over a dozen interns roaming creeks, they see more of the city's streams in one summer than most city staff members see in years. "We teach them how to understand what they're seeing and how to report that back," said Derek Godwin, a professor at Oregon State University who has helped train the Stream Crew. Once they're in the field, even students who grew up in Salem are impressed with this new view of their city. "I found it incredibly interesting to see my hometown of Salem in a new perspective," said intern Kyler Jacobo. "I developed a great passion for understanding river systems through my time at Oregon State University, but the opportunity to see several types of streams in the field put into perspective how dynamic they are." Armed with a mission and a mobile app, the Stream Crew interns carefully document debris jams, trash removed, water quality, soil types, illegal campsites and discharges, invasive plant species, and wildlife sightings—recording what and where each observation happened. The local university students make ideal partners for gathering information about Salem's streams. They need minimal instruction on data collection technology to navigate the app on their smartphones. They also share a scientific background in natural resources or environmental disciplines, applying what they've learned in the classroom and gaining hands-on experience. 100 Inland Flooding