TRRMS Hosts Tiered Aquatic Life Use Workshop

The Texas Tiered Aquatic Life Use (TALU) Workshop was held December 9-11, 2003 at the University of Texas Commons on the J. J. Pickle Research Center in Austin, Texas. The workshop was part of a series of workshops held througout the country by the Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Science and Technology (OST). EPA-OST has conducted similar workshops in other parts of the country under the auspices of the National Aquatic Life Use Working Group (ALUS). The objective of this working group is to develop recommendations on use of biological assessments to refine designated aquatic life uses. A conceptual model was developed by the working group for assessing the biological condition gradients for wadeable streams, with application to other water body types in the future. The conceptual model is descriptive and general but is based on the combined input of state and academic scientists participating in the national working group. The working group is now evaluating the applicability of this model in different places across the country.

The Texas TALU workshop helped to evaluate the applicability of the model to wadeable streams in Texas and was sponsored by the U.S. EPA, the Texas Rivers and Reservoirs Management Society (TRRMS), USGS, and the UT Environmental Science Institute. The 3-day workshop began with a series of public presentations that introduced the TALU framework and presented several case studies as examples. The second day included breakout sessions that utilized data exercises to interpret the biological data for benthic macroinvertebrates, fish, and periphyton. The third day consisted of open discussions about how the data can be used to establish biological condition for case study streams. 

The overall objective of the TALU workshop was to inform and solicit feedback from agency and research scientists on the tiered aquatic life use framework. Specific objectives were to: 1) test the applicability of the biological condition gradient for streams in Texas, 2) develop a case example for a stream type typical to Texas, 3) identify benefits of implementation in State and Tribal water quality programs, and 4) identify pitfalls and brainstorm potential solutions.

The workshop was facilitated by experts in the field that have had a role in the development of national guidance and methodology related to biological assessment and criteria and water quality management. The facilitators are active members of the National working group and include Michael Barbour (Tetra Tech), Susan Davies (Maine Department of Environmental Protection), Bob Hughes (Dynamac), Jan Stevenson (Michigan State University), Susan Jackson (EPA OST), Robert Plotnikoff (WA Dept. of Ecology) and Chuck Hawkins (Utah State University).

The workshop was designed primarily for state field biologists who are working in water quality monitoring, assessment and/or standards programs, and other agency and academicians/researchers that collaborate with the States and Tribes. For more information please contact Richard Kiesling at kiesling@usgs.gov (512/927-3505) or Phillip Crocker at crocker.philip@epa.gov (214/665-6644).