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2000 Progress Report: Development of an Integrated Scientific and Technological Framework for Stream Naturalization
EPA Grant Number: R827148Title: Development of an Integrated Scientific and Technological Framework for Stream Naturalization
Investigators: Rhoads, Bruce L. , Garcia, Marcelo , Herricks, Edwin E. , Wilson, David
Institution: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
EPA Project Officer: Stelz, Bill
Project Period: October 1, 1998 through September 30, 2001
Project Period Covered by this Report: October 1, 1999 through September 30, 2000
Project Amount: $881,913
RFA: Water and Watersheds (1998)
Research Category: Water and Watersheds
Description:
Objective:Specific objectives of the research are to: (1) develop and test a set of dynamic, process-based, multi-scale analysis and modeling methods, which integrate ecological, geomorphological, and engineering information, to effectively predict fluvial and habitat dynamics of human-modified stream systems; (2) examine the social processes that define the content of a community's environmental vision and that influence the effective incorporation of scientific and technical information in community-based decision-making; (3) determine the extent to which specific stream-naturalization strategies that fulfill the environmental objectives of a local community are also sustainable given the fluvial and ecological conditions of the watershed; and (4) explore how community-based environmental preferences shape and, in turn, are shaped by science and technology as preferences emerge and then are translated into specific environmental designs. Fulfillment of these objectives will generate an improved capacity to: detect, explain, and forecast the effects of particular naturalization schemes on the environmental quality of a stream system at multiple spatial and temporal scales; and assess, explain, and anticipate the extent to which scientific-technical information is incorporated into community-based decision-making about stream naturalization. Progress Summary:
Two urban catchments near Chicago, IL, continue to serve as field sites for development of an integrated scientific and technological framework for stream naturalization. During the past year, the third field site shifted from Butterfield Creek in the south Chicago suburbs to the Embarras River near Champaign?Urbana, IL. The naturalization project for Butterfield Creek did not materialize and a potential project now is anticipated for the Embarras River. Together the three sites encompass different types of naturalization strategies. The two urban catchments include a highly constrained channelized steam where naturalization involves addition of in-channel pool-riffle sequences without channel realignment (North Branch of the Chicago River, Northbrook, IL) and a channelized stream where naturalization is focusing on remeandering of the straightened channel (Poplar Creek near Elgin, IL). The project along the Embarras River will incorporate pool-riffle structures within channel maintenance activities.
At each field site, the research design has followed a three-phase action-plan: Phase 1?site reconnaissance, survey, and mapping operations, and historical analysis (using GIS applications); Phase 2?establishment of a field infrastructure for process-based field measurements of geomorphological and ecological conditions; and Phase 3?concentrated effort on specific measurement goals, including systematic data collection activities (relating to flow and channel characteristics, flow measurements, and sediment sampling). All three phases have been completed for the two Chicago sites (Northbrook and Poplar Creek), and Phase 3 is currently underway at the Embarras site. Completion of this work has provided key data to assist in design planning at the two Chicago sites. These efforts are complemented by social analysis that has defined the socio-historical context of community-based naturalization initiatives and that has involved in-depth interviews of key actors and agents in these initiatives.
The social contribution is critical to the integration of the technical and non-technical aspects of the project. It is revealing the relation between the local community and its environment. Integration of the project components is accomplished through regular communication and effective feedback of information between technical and non-technical researchers. Also, the social analysis seeks to define the extent to which technical members of the project communicate with local stakeholders who are invested in, and affected by, the naturalization efforts at each site.
Site 1: Northbrook, IL?North Branch of the West Fork of the Chicago
River. The Northbrook site currently is under planning for stream
naturalization by the local community. A bed-form structural design has been
developed for implementation at the site. The design was extensively tested, for
differing flow-stages, via numerical simulations. A physical model consisting of
3 consecutive structures built to the same design specifications has been
constructed and tested for flow characteristics. The measured flows correlate
well with those predicted by numerical modeling.
Interviews in the community
and analysis of stakeholder values and interests have been completed.
Preliminary findings indicate that the community views the river as a focal
point for a downtown restructuring effort. In this case, the local political
process is using the natural system as a vehicle for improvement of the
community's physical environment.
Site 2: Poplar Creek. Over the past year, work at Poplar Creek has encompassed several intensive fieldwork campaigns and concentrated efforts to compile and analyze data sets. Extended field campaigns (June 12, 13, 14, and 19; July 25, 26, and 27; and October 15) enabled collection of 3-dimensional flow measurements at low and high flow stages, repeated cross-sectional surveys, and sediment sampling at three meander bends on the creek. Flow characteristics in bends containing large woody debris (LWD) have been of particular interest since LWD is an important component of the fluvial system at Poplar Creek. One hundred and fifty pieces of LWD have been tagged in the study reach and changes in their positions have been mapped through time. This work has established that the transport rate of LWD through the system can be rapid during periods of high flow, and that channelized sections of the stream transport woody debris more efficiently than meandering sections.
Ecological data (fish and macro-invertebrate) have also been collected. Seasonal sampling of benthic macro-invertebrates began in the spring of 2000. Artificial substrate units have been placed in three morphologically distinct parts of the system and these units are sampled and replaced at monthly intervals. Order-level examples of invertebrates include: Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Tricoptera, Coleoptera, Odonata, and Diptera. Fisheries community sampling has been carried out in conjunction with the activities of the geomorphology team in an effort to correlate fish presence and abundance with the 3-dimensional velocity measurements. Additional electroseine sampling of reach-scale communities was performed on August 16, 2000. Examples of fish collected at the site include Bluegill, Green Sunfish, Largemouth Bass, Sand Shiner, Bluntnose Minnows, and Banded Darters. Initial work on numerical modeling of flow in meander bends also has been instigated. Social analysis is defining the historical chronology of naturalization and on interviewing of local people involved with the naturalization.
Site 3: Embarras River. Field measurements of 3-dimensional velocities that have been obtained at several sites along the Embarras River over the past 3 years are being used to calibrate and verify numerical models that will be used for design purposes for the Chicago sites. During 2001, pool-riffle structures will be excavated along a section of the Embarras River for which baseline data have been collected. The response of the river to the implementation of the structures will be studied to determine their overall success in achieving naturalization goals.
Future Activities:The following tasks will be conducted at the field sites during the period January to December 2001.
Northbrook:
1. Oversee construction of the pool riffle units.
2.
Use FLOW-3D to predict patterns of flow through the pool-riffle
structures.
3. Perform post-construction velocity measurements and channel
surveys to evaluate model predictions and to assess the overall stability of the
pool-riffle structures.
Poplar Creek:
1. Collect high-stage velocity measurements at the
meander bend that has been cleared of woody debris.
2. Document the movement
of woody debris within the stream by relocating tagged wood and surveying its
location within the stream.
3. Resurvey channel cross-sections to evaluate
patterns of erosion and deposition within the meandering reach.
4. Continue
monitoring of stage within the project site to determine the hydrologic context
of wood movement, channel erosion, and deposition, and fish sampling.
5.
Conduct periodic reach-scale sampling of fish within the straight and meandering
reaches to establish the community composition within these reaches.
6.
Perform local sampling of fish within defined habitat units to determine how
specific habitat conditions influence fish location.
7. Continue the study on
colonization of substrates by macroinvertebrates and initiation of experiments
to determine how naturalization designs might enhance the diversity and
abundance of macroinvertebrate fauna within the re-meandered system.
8. Model
channel dynamics for different remeandering scenarios to determine the
geomorphological stability and potential for habitat maintenance within the
naturalized system.
9. Conduct further interviews with stakeholders and
community members to ascertain the background to resource provision and the base
of the knowledge that is being imparted to the key players in the naturalization
process.
Embarras River:
1. Oversee construction of the pool riffle
units.
2. Obtain flow measurements within the newly constructed units.
3.
Continue investigating relations between bank erosion and near bank flow
velocities.
4. Calibrate and verify numerical modeling procedures that will
be used for design purposes for the Chicago sites.
No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 48 publications for this project
Supplemental Keywords:aquatic ecology, ecosystems, restoration, watersheds, integrated assessment, Midwest, social science, community-based, decision making, Illinois, IL, Embarras River, Chicago, Chicago River. , Water, Geographic Area, Scientific Discipline, RFA, Water & Watershed, Civil/Environmental Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Hydrology, Watersheds, Ecology and Ecosystems, State, stakeholder feedback, alternative urbanization scenarios, geomorphic, ecology assessment models, stream ecosystems, decision making, aquatic habitat protection , human-dominated systems, conservation, stream naturalization, suburban watersheds, stable fluvial systems, anthropogenic processes, aquatic ecosystems, Illinois (IL), biodiversity
Progress and Final Reports:
1999 Progress Report
Original Abstract
2001 Progress Report
Final Report