Big Rivers Monitoring Protocol for Park Units in the Chihuahuan Desert Network
Mateljak J and Gommermann L. Big Rivers Monitoring Protocol for Park Units in the Chihuahuan Desert Network. 2021. National Park Service
As part of their long-term monitoring programs the Chihuahuan Desert Network identified big rivers (channel morphology, riparian vegetation, and associated resources) as high-priority vital signs for monitoring. The overall goal of CHDN big rivers monitoring is to determine long-term trends in hydrologic, geomorphic (channel and floodplain), and vegetation variables in the context of changes in stream flows that can act as large disturbances or re-setting events, and other ecological drivers, stressors, and processes. Specific objectives of the big rivers monitoring protocol are to determine the effects of different flows on vegetation and geomorphic indicators of channel simplification; the environmental flows necessary to maintain active-channel, active-floodplain, and inactive-floodplain components of the riparian community; status and trends in geomorphic processes as reflected in channel and floodplain form; status and trends in vegetation patterns, and rates of narrowing and changes in narrowing in response to regulated and unregulated flows using remote imagery. For more information on this monitoring, visit the associated Files and Links.
- Type
- Project
- Authors
- Mateljak, Jason; Gommermann, Luke
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- BIBE , RIGR , WSRIGR
- Keywords
- geomorphology, hydrology, monitoring, plant studies, riparian, vegetation
Program
Products
- Big Rivers Monitoring standard operating procedures for the Chihuahuan Desert Network
- Channel morphology data from selected reaches along the Rio Grande-Bravo, Texas: 2022 - 2024
- Protocol implementation plan for monitoring geomorphic change along the Rio Grande in Big Bend National Park
- Scripts for quality control and publication of big rivers monitoring data from Chihuahuan Desert Network, v0.2.0 - internal