The Idaho Department of Equality conducts a state-wide annual monitoring program, the Beneficial Use Reconnaissance Program, nicknamed BURP, which is a combined biological monitoring and habitat assessment to determine and monitor the quality of Idaho’s surface waters. The purpose of the program is to help Idaho meet the requirements of the Clean Water Act by collecting data to use in determining the uses and beneficial use support status of the stat’s water bodies. The program was piloted in 1993 and implemented statewide in 1994.

EcoAnalysts has supported the BURP program since it’s statewide implementation. For over 20 years we have provided technical, field and taxonomic support to IDEQ. We have helped IDEQ select an achievable, practical taxonomic effort level for benthic invertebrates; developed the BURP laboratory subsampling protocols for benthic invertebrates; performed almost all of the benthic invertebrate taxonomy on Idaho’s streams, rivers and lakes; provided periodic reviews and updates to IDEQ’s BURP taxa list to account for advances in taxonomic science and nomenclature; conducted a robust literature search on the ecology of and environmental tolerances for Idaho’s most common invertebrate taxa; conducted technical bioassessment workshops for TMDL writers and BURP coordinators; provided taxonomic identifications on soft algae and diatoms; 8) provided field sampling support at over 100 sites to support TMDL development efforts; provided field and laboratory support for IDEQ’s nutrient criteria development; 10) performed harmful algae bloom taxonomic analysis; analyzed 20 years of stream temperature and benthic community data to empirically develop temperature occurrence models for the most common benthic invertebrates encountered in the BURP program; compiled a summary report of IDEQ’s aquatic vegetation monitoring and nutrient cycling in Coeur d’Alene Lake; summarized the relationships between metals, sediment chemistry and benthic invertebrate communities in several bays on Coeur d’Alene Lake; and provided fish voucher taxonomy on several hundred samples in the early years of BURP.

Since 1994 EcoAnalysts has analyzed more than 3,000 samples for the Idaho DEQ Beneficial Use Reconnaissance Program (BURP). EcoAnalysts delivers a standard taxa report in electronic format. Additionally, a report on the distribution of common aquatic nuisance species found in samples such as New Zealand mud snails. New taxa are confirmed and reported with phylogeny, attributes, and IT IS codes. EcoAnalysts calculates and reports a suite of metrics and appropriate multimetric indices by region and habitat. EcoAnalysts has also conducted several workshops and training sessions for IDEQ staff. These sessions included information on stream ecology, disturbance response, identification of macroinvertebrates, and an introduction to metrics.