Intro to the lakes of the Colville Indian Reservation

The Confederated Tribes Surface Waters Monitoring Program was undertaken to provide baseline limnological information heretofore lacking on most Colville Reservation lakes. The goal of this program is to alleviate this historical void as well as to start building a contemporary data base on Colville Reservation lakes. An important question to be answered is whether the productivity of Reservation lakes is due to edaphic factors or to human disturbance, i.e. cultural eutrophication and acidification. The answer is important for it would be unduly expensive and frustrating to attempt to reduce nutrient levels in lakes in which productivity is due to naturally determined edaphic factors.

Effective management requires some understanding of the underlying processes influencing productivity in these lakes. Without this information there is no way to determine the effectiveness of mitigation procedures or whether the fishery is being managed so as to achieve maximum yield.

The ecological data can only be meaningful if water quality objectives with well defined criteria are established to evaluate the physical, chemical and biological status of reservation surface waters as well as the land use characteristics of reservation lakes.

It is important that limnological and fishery data be available in a form which is easily accessible to resource managers in fish and wildlife as well as to those purely interested in lakes as beautiful and exciting environments. The use of the world wide web format makes ease of use a reality. The goal is to present the scientific data as clearly and simply as possible so as to encourage its use in making management decisions on reservation waters.

Jerry Marco, Fishery Biologist; Joe Peone, Program Manager, Fish and Wildlife; Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation
Dr. Barry Moore and David Christensen, Department of Natural Resources, Washington State University

This document has been prepared in-part by Edmond Broch, School of Biological Science, Washington State University. Current updates are prepared by Dr. Barry Moore and David Christensen.