Stream/River Channel Characteristics

Parks where protocol will be implemented

• Big Hole National Battlefield
• City of Rocks National Reserve
• John Day Fossil Beds National Monument
• Nez Perce National Historical Park
• Whitman Mission National Historic Site

Importance / Issues

• The significant change of flow regimes by human activity in the Upper Columbia Basin Network has altered ecosystem processes such as stream channel morphology. Loss of riparian vegetation as well as changes in surface water dynamics across adjacent uplands causes rapid and dramatic downcutting or “incising” of stream channels.
• Streambank channel morphology, stability, and composition are fundamental and easily measurable attributes of lotic systems that directly affect riparian vegetation, water quality, and aquatic fauna, particularly aquatic macroinvertebrates and fish.

Preliminary Monitoring Objectives

Estimate trends in streambank channel morphology, including sinuosity, bank stability, and substrate composition, of Network perennial wadeable rivers and streams.

Potential Measures

Bankfull width and depth, substrate composition, bank angle, undercut depth, pool depth, and sinuosity.

Protocol Development & Status

Protocol completion is planned for 2010.

Contact Information

Eric Starkey
Aquatic Biologist
Upper Columbia Basin Network
University of Idaho
Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources
Moscow, ID 83844-1136
Email