Principles and Applications

Abstract

The purpose of this package is to enhance the user's knowledge and ability to make decisions regarding visual assessments of watershed condition, including both narrative and photographic documentation.This Information Paper (IP) provides the principles, a brief description of methods, their applications, quality assurance practices for reducing error or subjectivity, a brief description of the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), and a glossary of terms used in visual assessments and other forms of citizen monitoring.The reader is referred to these SOPs for stepby-step instructions for each specific procedure.Sampling techniques for performing turbidity and transparency measurements, and flow measurements, which relate peripherally to narrative visual assessments, are also available in this Compendium.