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<br />water may be stored, as a result of a high density of dams, to mean the dif- <br />ference between intermittent and perennial flow (Heede 1977, Jester and <br />McKirdy 1966). <br />Gullying may favor summer streamflow loss by encouraging rapid runoff, <br />reducing bank storage capacity, and exposing shallow seeps and springs to <br />evapotranspirative processes. Small dams in gullied streams could be <br />especially effective in restoring summer streamflow through reversal of these <br />conditions. <br />While woody streamside vegetation undoubtedly transpires significant <br />amounts of water, vegetation removal studies suggest that it is not always <br />true riparian vegetation that uses the most water along smaller streams <br />(Rowe 1963, Rich and Thompson 1974). In some cases, it has been removal <br />of pseudoriparian vegetation (Campbell and Green 1968), such as conifer <br />and chapparal, which has resulted in the greatest increases in streamflow. <br />Understory release studies in Oregon (Winegar, pers. comm. 1982) show that <br />juniper removal can result in development of summer streamflow, despite the <br />development of riparian communities, and also suggest that pseudoriparian <br />plants can be greater users of water. <br />Removal of deep-rooted, woody, pseudoriparian vegetation may have the <br />best potential to increase water yield (Rowe 1963). Removal of true riparian <br />vegetation exposes moist streambanks to increased insolation and evaporation, <br />while replacement of peripheral woody plants with grass should significantly <br />reduce transpiration without greatly increasing evaporation from drier-site <br />soil surfaces. Evaporation may be a more important factor in water loss from <br />small streams than is generally supposed (Lewis 1961). <br />Interception of subsurface flow by pseudoriparian plants could be <br />another factor affecting streamflow. Subsurface flow of snowmelt and storm <br />water must travel under the areas peripheral to the riparian zone first, and <br />could be largely transpired before reaching the riparian zone. In California, <br />immediate increases in the flow of springs upon removal of deep-rooted, <br />upland shrubs above springs were reported (Biswell and Shultz 1958), and the <br />researchers postulated this vegetation was able to tap deep, underground <br />flows of water which would otherwise have fed the springs. <br />Besides shading and maintenance of a moist microclimate, riparian vege- <br />tation provides structural materials for beaver dams and debris jams, and <br />also the most important foods for beaver. Other suggested water-conserving <br />functions of true riparian vegetation include the building of organic soils <br />better able to retain soil moisture (Marcuson 1977), provision of litter <br />which helps seal dams, and streambank stabilization preventing channel degrada- <br />tion and loss of water table. During overbank flows, riparian vegetation <br />helps slow and spread flows and may encourage better streambottom aquifer <br />recharge. While removal of riparian vegetation may result in small increases <br />in summer streamflow over the short term, the elimination of woody riparian <br />vegetation and debris over the long term may result in eventual loss of <br />summer streamflow, especially along stream reaches susceptible to gullying. <br />Livestock are seldom removed from large, intermittent stream sections <br />where unexpected flow increases would be likely to be noticed simply by eye, <br />and this may explain why more reports of streamflow increase after removal <br />of livestock are not available. Mechanisms by which summer flow increase <br />might result upon removal of livestock may be hypothesized. Combined utili- <br />zation of riparian vegetation by beaver and livestock may lead to the vir- <br />tual elimination of wood, beaver, and their darns. By removal of livestock, <br /> <br />69 <br />