Research Task: 8327CMZ.1.0
Task Manager: Gregor Auble
Riparian vegetation communities in western landscapes provide important habitat for a disproportionately high number of wildlife species. However, they have been significantly altered through historical clearing, reduced streamflow from water diversion, channel incision (perhaps related to diminished sediment supply), possible climatic shifts, and high levels of herbivory from cattle, introduced herbivores, and high densities of native ungulates. Resources associated with riparian zones are particularly sensitive to changes in streamflow and sedimentation regimes. Conserving and managing these resources require evaluations of alternative streamflows, which are most effective when based on quantitative relations. Quantitative relations between streamflow and riparian vegetation are thus important to a number of management issues, including quantification of Federal reserved water rights for national parks and operation of Federal water management facilities. This study employs a case-study approach. The objectives are two-fold: (1) address a site-specific management need for a quantitative relation between streamflow and riparian vegetation; and (2) develop and test new general approaches to defining relations between streamflow and riparian vegetation.
For more information contact Gregor Auble
U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
URL: http://www.fort.usgs.gov/Research/research_tasks.asp
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