This study took place along Muddy Creek in south central WY. Water quality data were collected from 1994-2004 and analyzed to determine whether livestock grazing best management practices (BMPs) improved water quality of the watershed. Rain gauges, water quality monitoring stations, and stream cross sections were established. Water quality parameters measured were pH, electrical conductivity, total dissolved solids, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, and temperature. Physical attributes were elevation, slope, weighted mean substrate size, weighted embeddedness, stream velocity, and stream flow. Benthic invertebrates were collected annually from August through November. Stream cross sections were surveyed before and after BMP implementation to assess channel morphology changes. Hierarchical agglomerative cluster analysis (HGCA) grouped monitoring sites into classes according to similarities within and dissimilarities among classes. Discriminant analysis (DA) was used to determine spatial and temporal variations among water quality, physical and biological variables. Canonical correlation analyses (CCA) was used to enable interpretation of complex relationships within 1) water quality parameters with physical attributes, 2) water quality parameters with biological indices, and 3) physical attributes with biological indices. Nineteen width/depth ratio relationships were estimated between pre- and post-BMP implementation years.
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