The Clackamas River Basin Council initiated this watershed assessment to catalyze community involvement in watershed restoration and to offer and alternative to conventional urban development. Conventional urban development destroys or at best severely damages aquatic ecosystems. As land is covered with roads and buildings, rainfall runs quickly off the surface into pipes, then to streams. It flows fast and furious, carrying all manners of dirt, grime, oil, and chemicals directly into streams. Winter and spring flows are higher than they ever were before, resulting in bank erosion, downcutting, and the loss of connection between the stream and floodplain.
Riparian areas become weed and trash choked wastelands.
Pools silt in, spawning gravels are washed away, and summer flows may dry up altogether. Many urban creeks including neighboring Johnson Creek, were quite good salmon habitat in the 1950's, now they are testimony to the severity and problems posed by conventionally urbanized watersheds. Oregonians have recognized the impacts of our activities on salmonids, aquatic ecosystems and, more broadly, the watersheds and ecosystems that sustain us. The Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board has led the way in developing a process for assessing watershed conditions, and devising means to repair and protect watersheds. Clackamas County has developed a stream protection ordinance and surface water regulations.