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The primary mission of the Western Center for Monitoring and Assessment of Freshwater Ecosystems is to facilitate the development and implementation of scientifically sound methods for monitoring and assessing the condition of aquatic resources in the western United States. Our main goal is to aid federal, state, tribal, and local land and water management agencies in meeting the biological monitoring and assessment objectives required by the United States Clean Water Act and other federal and state environmental legislation. Other goals of the Center are to facilitate communication and collaboration between tribal, state, and federal agencies with respect to their common monitoring and assessment needs; provide technical guidance through workshops and other types of outreach education; and serve as a repository and clearing house for data and information related to aquatic monitoring.
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The Center is a collaborative effort housed and staffed by Utah State University with support from the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the United States Bureau of Land Management, and the United States Forest Service.
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General policy for the Center is established by an external Advisory Board with representatives from those federal, states, and tribal agencies involved in aquatic monitoring in the western United States. The Board also includes academic scientists whose primary research and teaching interests are in bioassessment and monitoring.
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The Center is housed within the Department of Watershed Sciences at Utah State University and is directed by Dr. Charles Hawkins, Professor of Aquatic Ecology. The Center works closely with the BLM/USU National Aquatic Monitoring Center, which conducts taxonomic identification of specimens from field samples, to test and refine bioassessment tools.
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The Western
Center for Monitoring and Assessment of Freshwater Ecosystems
Department of Watershed Sciences
Utah State University
5210 Old Main Hill, Logan UT 84322-5210 (435)797-2280
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