Modeling River Restoration Impact on Flow and Sediment in a California Watershed

Liang, L.; Kavvas, M. L.; Chen, Ziran; Anderson, Michael L.; Ohara, N.; Wilcox, Joseph; Mink, L.L.

doi:10.1061/40927(243)353

World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2007 2007

DOI: 10.1061/40927(243)353

|View full text |Cite

Modeling River Restoration Impact on Flow and Sediment in a California Watershed

L. Liang¹,

M. L. Kavvas²,

Ziran Chen³

et al.

Help me understand this report

Search citation statements

Order By: Relevance

Paper Sections

Select...

Citation Types

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Year Published

2015

2018

Publication Types

Select...

Article2

Relationship

Self Cite0

Independent2

Authors

Journals

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 1 publication

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The unifying premise of these strategies is that raising the channel bed, and thus, the water surface elevation will (a) increase groundwater storage and reduce the depth to the water table which will (b) support the recovery of wet-meadow plant assemblages and (c) attenuate floodpeaks so that they slowly drain through the summer and augment baseflow. (Hammersmark et al, 2008;Heede, 1979;Liang et al, 2007;Loheide & Gorelick, 2007;NFWF, 2010;Podolak et al, 2015;Ponce & Lindquist, 1990;Swanson, Franzen, & Manning, 1987;Tague et al, 2008). Previous research has established that, in most circumstances, these restoration strategies are effective at accomplishing the first two goals.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

A physical framework for evaluating net effects of wet meadow restoration on late‐summer streamflow

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Restoration of degraded wet meadows found on upland valley floors has been proposed to achieve a range of ecological benefits, including augmenting late‐season streamflow. There are, however, few field and modelling studies documenting hydrologic changes following restoration that can be used to validate this expectation, and published changes in groundwater levels and streamflow following restoration are inconclusive. Here, we assess the streamflow benefit that can be obtained by wet‐meadow restoration using a physically based quantitative analysis. This framework employs a 1‐dimensional linearized Boussinesq equation with a superimposed solution for changes in storage due to groundwater upwelling and evapotranspiration, calculated explicitly using the White method. The model and assumptions gave rise to predictions in good agreement with field data from the Middle Fork John Day watershed in Oregon, USA. While raising channel beds can increase total water storage via increases in water table elevation in upland valley bottoms, the contributions of both lateral and longitudinal drainage from restored floodplains to late‐summer streamflow were found to be undetectably small, while losses in streamflow due to greater transpiration, lower hydraulic gradients, and less laterally drainable pore volume were likely to be substantial. Although late‐summer streamflow increases should not be expected as a direct result of wet‐meadow restoration, these approaches offer benefits for improving the quality and health of riparian and meadow vegetation that would warrant considering such measures, even at the cost of increased water demand and reduced streamflow.

show abstract

mentioning

confidence: 99%

A physical framework for evaluating net effects of wet meadow restoration on late‐summer streamflow

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For example, three of four published studies assessing hydrologic responses to pond-and-plug meadow restoration were conducted on Last Chance Creek in the Feather River watershed (Liang et al 2007, Loheide and Gorelick 2007, Cornwell and Brown 2008. From this information, it is difficult to determine realistic expectations for outcomes of current or future projects across a range of geologic and hydrologic conditions (Bernhardt et al 2005, NFWF 2010.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Habitat Conditions of Montane Meadows associated with Restored and Unrestored Stream Channels of California

Pope

Montoya

Brownlee³

et al. 2015

Ecological Restoration

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Mountain meadow habitats are valued for their ecological importance. They attenuate floods, improve water quality, and support high biodiversity. Many meadow habitats in the western US are degraded, and efforts are increasing to restore these montane meadow ecosystems. Rewatering projects such as pond-and-plug quickly raise the water table by blocking the existing incised stream channel and can result in the rapid recovery of wet meadow habitats. Based on the existing literature, however, it is difficult to determine realistic expectations for outcomes of restoration projects across a range of hydrogeologic conditions. We compared wetland, vegetation, soil carbon, and channel condition variables between ten randomly selected restored and ten paired unrestored montane meadows in California to provide a comparison of habitat conditions. We found that unrestored meadows had a higher proportion of wetland habitat, fewer indicators of channel instability, and greater topsoil carbon stores compared to restored meadows. Restored meadows had more herbaceous biomass within their wetland habitats, but also had more cattle exclosures. The restoration category of the meadow remained important when watershed variables were included in models. While restored meadows were highly degraded prior to project implementation, our results suggest that, in general, conditions do not improve beyond the average conditions of nearby unrestored meadows. Realistic expectations of outcomes and consequences are necessary for managers to make appropriate decisions about restoration options and whether or not to implement rewatering projects that often greatly alter the meadow landscape.

show abstract

scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.

Contact Info

customersupport@researchsolutions.com

10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614

Henderson, NV 89052, USA

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Blog Terms and Conditions API Terms Privacy Policy Contact Cookie Preferences Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information

Made with 💙 for researchers

Part of the Research Solutions Family.

Modeling River Restoration Impact on Flow and Sediment in a California Watershed

Cited by 2 publications

References 1 publication

A physical framework for evaluating net effects of wet meadow restoration on late‐summer streamflow

A physical framework for evaluating net effects of wet meadow restoration on late‐summer streamflow

Habitat Conditions of Montane Meadows associated with Restored and Unrestored Stream Channels of California

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About