Skuyler Herzog

Dr. Herzog joined Oregon State University in fall 2021 at OSU-Cascades in Bend. Herzog is a hydrologist specializing in groundwater-surface water interactions, with a focus on hyporheic zone restoration. His mission at OSU-Cascades is to advance fundamental hydrologic knowledge and local watershed management while training the next generation of world class natural resource managers.

Like the water quality problems he studies, Herzog’s research does not fit neatly into traditional management sectors. Instead, his projects span forested, agricultural, urban and wastewater-dominated watersheds. Herzog seeks projects that simultaneously address fundamental scientific questions and practical topics of local importance. In particular, Herzog works with water practitioners, stakeholders and regulators to translate scientific results into practical management solutions.

Research Projects

In collaboration with faculty from across OSU and Central Oregon stakeholders, Dr. Herzog is exploring multi-disciplinary ecological restoration projects.

Current and recent projects include:

• Potential of floodplain reconnection to alter baseflow and stream temperatures along the Upper Crooked River (Post, OR) and Whychus Creek (Sister, OR).
• Predicting the location and timing of stream intermittency based on local-scale geology in Thirtymile Creek (OR), San Antonio River (CA), and Garden Canyon (AZ).
• Optimization and monitoring of hyporheic restoration structures for in-stream treatment of stormwater (Seattle, WA).
• Hyporheic biogeochemistry at the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest (Blue River, OR).
• Emerging topics include:
• Stream restoration (including beaver recovery) to enhance riparian vegetation
• Restoration approaches to improve water quantity and quality for anadromous fish
• Monitoring groundwater springs to predict flow permanence during drought

Courses Taught at OSU-Cascades

Managing Natural Resources for the Future (NR 201)
Management Principles of Pacific Salmon in the Northwest (FW 323)
Integrated Watershed Management (FW 326)
Natural Resources Decision Making (NR 455)
Riparian Ecohydrology (RNG 455)

Selected Works

Herzog SP, AS Ward, SM Wondzell, SP Serchan, R González-Pinzón, and JP Zarnetske. 2025. Seasonality controls biogeochemical shifts in oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen along a 12-m, 54 hour-long hyporheic flowpath. Water Resources Research, 61(5), e2024WR038410.

Orr MR, NP Weber, R Reuter, SP Herzog, HM Broughton, and S Bango. 2024. Multiyear trajectories of stream and riparian responses to beaver dam analogs on a low-gradient channel lacking woody riparian vegetation. Restoration Ecology, 32(7), e14223.

Herzog SP, J Galloway, EW Banks, M Posselt, A Jaeger, A Portmann, R Sahm, B Kusebauch, J Lewandowski, and AS Ward. 2023. Combined surface-subsurface stream restoration structures can optimize hyporheic attenuation of stream water contaminants. Environmental Science & Technology, 57(10), 4153–4166.

Herzog SP, AS Ward, and SM Wondzell. 2019. Multi-scale feature-feature interactions control patterns of hyporheic exchange in a headwater mountain stream. Water Resources Research, 55(12), 10976–10992.

Herzog SP, WA Eisenstein, BN Halpin, AC Portmann, NJM Fitzgerald, AS Ward, CP Higgins, and JE McCray. 2019. Co-design of engineered hyporheic zones to improve in-stream stormwater treatment and facilitate regulatory approval. Water, 11(12), 2543.

Peter KT, SP Herzog, Z Tian, C Wu, JE McCray, K Lynch, and EP Kolodziej. 2019. Evaluating emerging organic contaminant removal in an engineered hyporheic zone using high resolution mass spectrometry. Water Research, 150, 140–152.

Herzog SP, CP Higgins, K Singha, and JE McCray. 2018. Performance of engineered streambeds for inducing hyporheic transient storage and attenuation of resazurin. Environmental Science & Technology, 52(18), 10627–10636.

Herzog SP, CP Higgins, and JE McCray. 2015. Engineered streambeds for induced hyporheic flow: Enhanced removal of nutrients, pathogens, and metals from urban streams. Journal of Environmental Engineering, 142(1), 04015053.