Watershed Management

The Goal of TBI's Watershed Management Programs are to develop state of the art, multi-disciplinary, leadership-oriented educational programs and materials that engage students and professionals in the search for solutions to problems in mountain lake watershed management.

TBI Services include:

* Education & Training: Experiential education programs that provide; specialized internships; hands-on restoration; projects; group discussions with experts; training courses; site visits; and outdoor recreation activities;

* Leadership Development: Environmental leadership training for professionals and young adults. By participating in TBI programs, students and professionals gain confidence and skills to engage environmental challenges in their own communities;

* Unique Mountain Lake Environment Center on the shores of Fallen Leaf Lake, Tahoe.

* Information Network: Developing and distributing watershed management science and policy information on Lake Tahoe and Lake Baikal through various media including website, newsletter, newspaper, and journal publications. - Synthesize & publish key science and policy data for Lake Tahoe and Lake Baikal, in particular, and for information on other international watersheds.

* Watershed Management Tools: Watershed management science and policy research utilizing TBI’s project experience and international network of professionals. - Unique policy briefs and technical publications on watershed management. - Research opportunities for students, professionals and TBI alumni. - New ideas/perspectives/dialogue on watershed management issues for mountain lakes.

TBI Project Experience

TBI has been developing study tours, publications, and research on Watershed Management "lessons learned" from resource policy developments in Lake Mountain watersheds from around the world. This program draws from TBI's decade of experience in developing training programs for young professionals and policy-makers along with the wealth of watershed management expertise located in the United States and Russia. TBI has already developed or partnered on "lessons learned" study tours from countries such as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Moldova, Russia, Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and others with clients such as the World Bank, US Forest Service, Global Environmental Facility, Open World, and others.

Below is a brief list of partners and projects:

* Baikal Watershed Management Workshop (August 2004): In 2004, TBI hosted 15 government and academic representatives from Russia and Mongolia to discuss problems at Baikal, and what solutions were needed to address them. In addition to the international delegation, 18 international experts also took part in a targeted workshop to assist in identifying areas of cooperation. Numerous concepts and ideas were suggested under topics of: Forestry, rangeland and agriculture; watershed management and planning; economic development; and science and monitoring. Funders included US Forest Service, ISAR, Open World, Trust for Mutual Understanding, Desert Research Institute, and others.

* TBI partnered with the World Bank, LakeNet, and Baikalpriroda to write a policy paper on Lake Basin Management for Lake Baikal.

* World Bank Central Asia/Eastern Europe Regional Planning Workshop (August 2002): TBI, in partnership with the World Bank, gathered 22 participants from 6 former Soviet republics working on four World Bank biodiversity projects to study resource management in the Lake Tahoe watershed.

Project Spotlight-Update on 2001 Selenga Research Expedition

By Andrew Stubblefield (UC Davis and Expedition Leader) & Karen Smallwood (97' TBI Alumni and former TBI Executive Director)
(A more detailed report is needed)

Sponsored by the Mead Foundation and the Tahoe-Baikal Institute, an international team of Mongolian, American, and Russian researchers studied the Mongolian portion of the Selenga watershed from August 1 to August 26, 2001. The purpose of the research was to study levels of sedimentation on the river and to determine the source of this sedimentation. Preliminary results showed the Tuul River, a tributary to the Selenga, had the highest levels of disturbance due to significant gold mining activities on the river. The high occurrence of grazing in areas where mining was taking place made it difficult to determine the exact source of sedimentation. Differentiating between impacts from mining and agriculture could be a subject for future research.

Sampling Sites

The research team took water samples at 13 sites along the Selenga and several tributaries. Each site was sampled 1-3 times. Site visits were located at the following locations:

1. Yeroo River, above the confluence with the Orkhon River.
2. Yeroo River, at Bugant town, below the mines.
3. Yeroo River, above the mines, at Honnin Nok.
4. Yalbag River, above the confluence with the Yeroo, directly below mining area.
5. Bugant River, above the confluence with the Yeroo.
6. Orkhon River, above the confluence with the Selenge, near Sukhbatar.
7. Eg River, above the confluence with the Selenge. 8. Selenge, above the confluence with the Eg.
9. Orkhon River, above the confluence with the Tuul.
10. Tuul River, above the confluence with the Orkhon.
11. Khara River, above the confluence with the Orkhon.
12. Sharyn River, above the confluence with the Orkhon.
13. Zamar Mining region of the Tuul, at 4 locations.

Type of Samples

At all sites the group sampled for 12 different characteristics:

• Turbidity
• Nitrate
• Phosphate
• Ammonia
• Oxygen
• PH
• Temperature
• Conductivity
• Total Dissolved Solids
• Total Suspended Sediment
• Total Phosphorus
• Discharge

They also took photographs at all sites and noted locations with a Global Positioning System (GPS) point.

At several sites along the Yeroo and Tuul Rivers geomorphology samples were taken, including pebble counts, width-depth ratio and entrenchment ratio of several cross-sections of the river. These data show the level to which the river channel has been disturbed. Pebble counts show sedimentation, and width-depth and entrenchment ratios show down-cutting of the channel due to higher stream velocities and change in channel shape from mining activities.

Additional Activities

In addition to the planned sampling, the team had some unexpected opportunities to examine environmental problems from other angles.

In the Zamar region they were able to tour one of the mines and tour an active dredge. They also talked with the head geologist of the mining company. The geologist described the company's policy of restoring the topsoil after mining an area. The research group could not detect evidence of this type of restoration, however.

The group met with the mayor of Bugant, who talked to them in detail about the mining in the area, as well as the problems that the town has with its sewage treatment plan. For the last year the plant has been out of commission, leaving the town of 4,000 people to discharge untreated waste directly into the river. The group took photographs of the treatment plant so that Tuvshinjargal could report the problem to the Ministry of the Environment and hopefully encourage action on fixing the plant. The research team showed town officials in Bugant the sampling procedure. Two representatives from the Ministry of the Environment are stationed in Bugant, and they were interested in the research.

Preliminary Results

While most of the data has been analyzed, final calculations and conclusions have yet to be drawn. A preliminary look at the data shows that the Tuul River had the worst water quality of all the rivers sampled. Total suspended sediment in the Tuul was 200 mg/litre as compared to 10 mg/litre in other parts of the Selenge. While the Tuul does flow past Ulaanbaatar, the research group had the impression that most of this suspended sediment was due to mining.

Future Research

Ideas for future research in the Selenge watershed include sampling the Tuul more frequently at fewer sampling sites. Sampling should be done above and below the capital city of Ulaanbaatar, and above and below mining sites. A comparison of these data to data collected from the Eg river, the least impacted by mining, could show background sedimentation from grazing, helping to separate effects from mining and those of grazing. Another research avenue would be a trans-boundary comparison of the Mongolian and Russian sections of the watershed. Samples could be collected 3-4 times a week year round by local scientists.

From a larger perspective, problems with grazing could be looked at from a policy angle--changes in infrastructure, such as the construction of the planned East-West highway, and subsidies to farmers encourage more grazing. An evaluation of the long-term economic impacts of these types of policy decisions could be useful in predicting environmental changes.

Future plans

We plan to distribute the results of this work as widely as possible. The final paper, scheduled to be completed by March 30, 2002, will be sent to all partners in planning and carrying out the research, in Russia, Mongolia, and the U.S, including the Geo-Ecology Institute of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences, Mongolian Institute of Hydrology and Meteorology, the Mongolia-Russia Selenga Joint Working Group, the Irkutsk Limnological Institute, Buryat State University, Irkutsk State University, Buryat Center for Hydrometeorology and Monitoring of Environmental Pollution, and others. The paper will be sent to scientific journals for publication, as well as other "gray" journals more widely read by laypeople, such as Earth Island Journal, UC Davis Magazine, Mongol-Tolbo (a newsletter that reports on Mongolia-U.S. relations), and other journals that report on Asia and the Far East. The Tahoe-Baikal Institute will post the results on its web site, as well as make the information available to all donors and supporters. The Tahoe-Baikal Institute would like to extend a special thanks to the Mead Foundation for making this research possible.

Research Team

Andrew Stubblefield, Expedition leader -- Ph.D. candidate in Watershed Hydrology at the University of California, Davis.
David Gilroy (TBI '97) -- has a B.A. in Biology from the University of New Mexico, with a focus on river ecosystems.
Tuvshinjargal Dampil (TBI-Mongolia '99) --A hydrologist and head of the Physio-Geography Laboratory at the Institute of Geography in Ulaanbaator, Mongolia.
Enkhtuya Bazarradnaa -- Soil scientist from the Agricultural University in Darkhan, Mongolia.
Gantimur Davaadorzh -- Chemist-Ecologist from the Hydrochemistry Laboratory at the Geo-Ecology Institute in Ulaanbaator, Mongolia.
Inna Bessolitsina -- Ph.D. candidate in Zoology specializing in Aquatic Macro-invertebrates at the Irkutsk State University in Russia.
Viktoria Sharaldaeva - Ornithologist from the Department "Ecology and Environmental Health" of the East Siberian Technological University in Ulan-Ude, Russia.

Two other groups of scientists joined the expedition, pursuing some of their own research interests:

Sean Eagan - Forester/Hydrologist from the U.S. Forest Service research division.
Cynthia Horwitz - Botanist from U.S. National Park System.
Jennifer Sampson - Water chemist from the 10,000 Years Institute, based in Seattle, Washington.
Bill Volker -- Chemist from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.