Channel-Dynamic Control on the Establishment of Riparian Trees After Large Floods in Northwestern California

Abstract

Large floods in northwestern California in the past two decades have mobilized extensive areas of valley floors, removed streamside trees, and widened channels. Channel cross sections were surveyed to illustrate an hypothesis on the linkage between sediment transport, colonization of channel margins by trees, and streambank recovery. Riparian trees, e.g., white alder (Alnus rhombifolia), colonize the water's edge at low flow to receive adequate moisture during the dry season. Such stands can endure annual high flows only after the flood-enhanced sediment load declines and the width of the annually mobile bed contracts to the low-flow width. Streambank formation along the low-flow margin can then proceed by deposition of fine sediment and organic debris.

Parent Publication

• Proceedings of the California riparian systems conference: protection, management, and restoration for the 1990s; 1988 September 22-24; Davis, CA.

Citation

Lisle, Thomas E. 1989. Channel-Dynamic Control on the Establishment of Riparian Trees After Large Floods in Northwestern California. In: Abell, Dana L., Technical Coordinator. 1989. Proceedings of the California Riparian Systems Conference: protection, management, and restoration for the 1990s; 1988 September 22-24; Davis, CA. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-110. Berkeley, CA: Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture; p. 9-13