My WebLink
|
Help
|
About
|
Sign Out
Home
Browse
Search
Stream - Riparian Rapid Assessment
CWCB
>
Watershed Protection
>
DayForward
>
Stream - Riparian Rapid Assessment
Metadata
Thumbnails
Annotations
Entry Properties
Last modified
7/28/2009 10:00:13 PM
Creation date
6/11/2008 9:15:31 AM
Metadata
Fields
Template:
Watershed Protection
Document ID
hr_0024c
Basin
Western Slope
Title
User's Guide for the Rapid Assessment of the Functional Condition of Stream-Riparian Ecosystems in the American Southwest
Date
2/14/2007
Prepared By
Peter B. Stacey, et al
Watershed Pro - Doc Type
Educational/Technical/Reference Information
There are no annotations on this page.
Document management portal powered by Laserfiche WebLink 9 © 1998-2015
Laserfiche.
All rights reserved.
/
57
PDF
Print
Pages to print
Enter page numbers and/or page ranges separated by commas. For example, 1,3,5-12.
After downloading, print the document using a PDF reader (e.g. Adobe Reader).
Show annotations
View images
View plain text
Table l: Continued from the previous page. <br />CATEGORY AND VARIABLE dUSTiFiCATION FOR INCLUSION iN RSRA ASSESSMENT <br />FishlAquatic Habitat: The amount, composition, distribution and condition of large woody debris (LWD) in the <br />Large woody debris stream chaimel and along the banks provides important fish habitat for nursery cover, <br /> feeding, and protective cover. Streanis with adequate LWD generally have greater habitat <br /> diversity, a natural meandering shape and greater resistance against high water events. <br />Fish/Aquatic Habitat: Overhanging terrestrial vegetation is essential for fish production and survival, providing <br />Overbank cover and terrestrial shade, bank protection from lugh flows, sediment filtering, and input of organic matter. <br />invertebrate habitat Overbank cover also is important for terrestrial insect urput {drop) into streams, which is a <br /> key source of food for fish. <br />Riparian vegetation: High cover and stnichual diversity of riparian vegetation generally indicates healthy and <br />Plant community cover and productive plant communities, high plant species diversity and provides direct and secondary <br />structural diversity food resources, cover, and breeding habitat for wildlife. Tlris affects avian breeding and <br /> foraging patterns in particular. Good structural diversity can also reduce flood impacts along <br /> banks. <br />Riparian vegetation: 1'he distribution of size and age classes of native dominant species indicates recnrihl7ent <br />Dominant shrub and tree success, ecosystem sustainability, and wildlife and fish habitat availability. When one or <br />demography (recruitment and more age classes of the dominant species are missing, it indicates that something he <br />age distribution) niterrupted the natural process of reproduction and individual plant replacement In time, this <br /> may lcad to the complctc loss of the spccics hi the arca as older hrdividuals dic off and arc <br /> not replaced by younger plants. <br />Riparian vegetation: Non-native plant species profowrdly influence ecosystem structm-e, productivity, habitat <br />Non-native herbaceous and quality, and processes (e.g., fire frequency, intensity). Strong dominance by non-rlittive <br />woody plant cover plants may eliminate key attributes of wildlife habitat quality, and may limit ungulate and <br /> livcstock usc. <br />Riparian vegetation: Ungulate herbivores can affect riparian soils, growrd cover, and general ecosystem condition. <br />Mammalian herbivory impacts on Utilization levels > 10% in riparian zones retard vegetation replacement and recovery. <br />ground cover Moderate and higher levels of grazing almost always increase soil compaction and erosion. <br />Riparian vegetation: Ungulate herbivores can affect recruitment of woody shrub and trees by clipping or <br />Mammalian herbivory impacts on browsing the growing tips of the branches. Continued high levels of utilization lead to the. <br />shrubs and small trees death of the plant and over time can cause the loss of all shrubs and trccs in a local arca. <br />Terrestrial Wildlife Habitat: Riparian shrubs and trees often grow in dense patches that provide food, thermal cover, <br />Riparian shrub and tree canopy predator protection and nesting or breeding habitat for terrestrial wildlife, including many <br />cover and connectivity invertebrates, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mamrnals. These patches are often absent in <br /> riparian areas that have been heavily utilized by livestock and other ungulates, or that have <br /> been damaged by other human activities. As a result, many native wildlife species may no <br /> longer be able to survive in the area. Patches of dense vegetation, both native and exotic, also <br /> plays a key role in trapping sediment during periods of over-hank flow. <br />Terrestrial Wildlife Habitat: Natural processes create a diversity of fluvial landfonns, including terraces, bars, oxbows, <br />Fluvial habitat diversity wet marshes and fluvial marshes, that provide habitats for different species of terrestrial <br /> wildlife. Conversely, in a highly degraded system with extensive erosion and downcutting, <br /> tlrere may be only a single fluvial form: a straight and single-depth channel and steep banks <br /> without vegetation. <br />
The URL can be used to link to this page
Your browser does not support the video tag.