Greater Yellowstone Area Reference Stream Reach Study
Bengeyfield P. 2002. Greater Yellowstone Area Reference Stream Reach Study. Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. Dillon, MT
A common concept throughout the GYA is to define success in watershed management as meeting the Desired Future Condition (DFC). Because of natural variability across landscapes, defining the DFC is often imprecise at best. One way to improve our ability to create these necessary definitions is through the use of reference stream reaches. These are reaches of stream channels where natural processes are the major formative mechanisms, and management actions have not altered the various hydrologic components. In short, these reaches can be used as benchmarks to define DFC. In the summer of 2002 a field crew measured reference reaches throughout the GYA. The project was sponsored through the GYCC and the NPS Monitoring Group. Individual reaches were chosen by hydrologists and fisheries biologists on the various units with knowledge of local conditions. In 2002, a total of eighty-eight reaches were measured, seventy-eight of which were determined to be of reference quality.
- Type
- Unpublished Report
- Authors
- Bengeyfield, Pete
- Date of Issue
- 2002
- Publisher
- Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest
- Units
- GRYN
- Keywords
- BAR, meander, pool, reference reach, riffle, Rosgen stream classification, stream reach, Watershed