Riparian Zone Habitat Assessment

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Riparian Zone Habitat Assessment

• Vegetation and More

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What is riparian vegetation?

• Plants growing on the streambank and adjoining
  floodplain
• Plants in this area are influenced by the water
  from the stream

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Riparian Zone
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Riparian Vegetation Functions

• Roots stabilize banks / reduce erosion
• Provide structure or cover for fish
• Taller vegetation provides shade
• Organic food source for aquatic organisms
• Leaves
• Terrestrial insects

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Riparian Vegetation Functions

• Pollutant filtering
• Fall into stream large woody debris
• Shapes channel
• Substrate for biological activity

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Relationship to Water Quality

• Turbidity / Sediment
• Phosphorus
• Temperature (Shade)
• Nutrient Uptake
• Nutrient Release (Alder)

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Two Ways to Assess a Riparian Zone

• Plant Presence
• Habitat Quality
• Actual Diversity
• Invasive Species
• Changes over time

• Riparian Assessment
• Stability
• Shade
• Invasive Species
• Large Wood Recruitment
• Considers non-vegetative stable substrates

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Riparian Assessment

• Can be broken into 3 sections
• a 100 riparian transect perpendicular to the
  stream,
• a 100 greenline transect along the stream,
• a riparian tree count performed in a 100 sq ft
  area along the stream

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Starting point
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Riparian Assessment

• Total area 100 ft x 100 ft (30 m2)
• Instructions in feet and meters
• Starting point is at beginning of first
  (downstream) habitat unit

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Riparian Transect
Each zone is 10 meters (33 feet) long Total
transect length 30 meters (100 feet)
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Riparian Transect
Width 10 feet
STREAM
Estimate cover by 10-20 increments May have
more or less than 100 feet of riparian zone
Length 11 feet
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Johnson Creek
175 ft
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Measure Slope
Zone 2
Zone 3
Zone 1
Zone 2
Zone 1
10
40
25
5
55
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Greenline Transect
GREENLINE the first strip of vegetation along
the stream
STREAM
Length 11 feet
Width 5 feet
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Riparian Tree Count
Conifer
Deciduous
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Tree Size Class
Circumference
Diameter Circumference ? (approx.
3.14)
Diameter
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What Does it Tell Us?

• Riparian and Greenline Transects
• Extent and diversity of riparian zone
• Stability
• Invasive species
• Riparian Tree Count
• Age-class diversity
• Large woody debris recruitment (old growth
  conifer, gt35, is MOST desirable)

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Evaluation of recruitment

• How many trees of varying size are present in the
  riparian zone?
• How close/far are they from the water?
• Over what time period might they become available?

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Large Woody Debris