High Definition Stream Survey of the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area, Georgia

Parham, James; Connell, James

Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area (CHAT), established in 1978, consists of the 77 km (48-mile) stretch of the Chattahoochee River flowing just north of Atlanta, GA along with adjacent land units. This segment of the Chattahoochee River begins at the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Buford Dam which impounds Lake Sidney Lanier. Given its proximity to Atlanta, CHAT is heavily used for recreation with the Chattahoochee River seeing high levels of fishing, wading, and boating. CHAT has challenges protecting the health of the river as a result of runoff from land development and wastewater overflow (https://www.nps.gov/chat/learn/nature/environmentalfactors.htm) as well as the impacts of the regulated water discharges from Buford Dam. To help better manage the river, the National Park Service is interested in documenting the streambank and channel conditions on all 74 km of the river associated with CHAT. To accomplish this, Trutta Environmental Solutions, LLC. (TRUTTA) was contracted to assess the habitat type (riffle, shoal, run, pool), condition of the left and right streambank, and water depth on 72.7 kilometers of the Chattahoochee River. Additionally, a recreational use suitability model that included wading and boating types was developed, requiring the additional parameter of channel roughness to be classified. To accomplish this, a longitudinal High Definition Stream Survey (HDSS) was conducted during October 3 to 5, 2018 to collect a broad suite of video, sonar and global position system (GPS) data. A standard set of classification criteria was applied to the field data to determine streambank and channel conditions. The same standard set of classification criteria was used to develop the suitability model for recreational use. This project covered 72.7 km of the Chattahoochee River downstream of USACE Buford Dam to the Paces Mill land unit of CHAT. A Stream View video spanning the 72.7 river kilometers covered by this project, GIS layers for the three parameters (depth, habitat type, and streambank condition), a recreational use suitability model, and a list of the 20 worst stream segments and 5 worst tributary confluences are provided.