Elwha River Sediment Management

Source: ICHE Conference Archive - https://mdi-de.baw.de/icheArchiv

Channel-planform evolution in four rivers of Olympic National Park, Washington, USA: the roles of physical drivers and trophic cascades

Identifying the relative contributions of physical and ecological processes to channel evolution remains a substantial challenge in fluvial geomorphology. We use a 74-year aerial photographic record of the Hoh, Queets, Quinault, and Elwha Rivers, Olympic National Park, Washington, USA, to investigate whether physical or trophic-cascade-driven ecological factors – excessive elk impacts after wolves were extirpated a century ago – are the dominant drivers of channel planform in these gravel-bed rivers.We find that channel width and braiding show strong relationships with recent flood history. All four rivers widened significantly after having been relatively narrow in the 1970s, consistent with increased flood activity since then. Channel planform also reflects sediment-supply changes, evident from landslide response on the Elwha River. We surmise that the Hoh River, which shows a multi-decadal trend toward greater braiding, is adjusting to increased sediment supply associated with rapid glacial retreat. These rivers demonstrate transmission of climatic signals through relatively short sediment-routing systems that lack substantial buffering by sediment storage. Legacy effects of anthropogenic modification likely also affect the Quinault River planform. We infer no correspondence between channel evolution and elk abundance, suggesting that trophic-cascade effects in this setting are subsidiary to physical controls on channel morphology. Our findings differ from previous interpretations of Olympic National Park fluvial dynamics and contrast with the classic example of Yellowstone National Park, where legacy effects of elk overuse are apparent in channel morphology; we attribute these differences to hydrologic regime and large-wood availability

Data to accompany Bellmore et al. 2017: Incorporating food web dynamics into ecological restoration: a modeling approach for river ecosystems

<p>This data accompanies the article "Incorporating food web dynamics into ecological restoration: a modeling approach for river ecosystems" accepted for publication in <em>Ecological Applications</em>.</p><p>Authors: J Ryan Bellmore, Joseph R Benjamin, Michael Newsom, Jennifer Bountry and Daniel Dombroski</p><p>Dataset includes summary of water temperature, substrate size distribution, and stream shading data used to parameterize the Aquatic Trophic Productivity (ATP) model to a floodplain segment of the Methow River, Washington, USA.</p