Assessing changes in stream health following watershed restoration: A 30-year perspective, Redwood Creek Basin, Humboldt County, California
Madej MA, Ambrose H, Currens C, Hadden S. 2006. Assessing changes in stream health following watershed restoration: A 30-year perspective, Redwood Creek Basin, Humboldt County, California. Contract #P0310528. USGS, USDI. Arcata, CA
Excerpt of Objectives from Executive Summary: "Between 1973 and 1975, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) collected aquatic biological data at 50 sites in the Redwood Creek watershed. At that time the watershed had extensive areas of timber harvest, road construction, unstable hillslopes and eroding stream channels. The National Park Service initiated a watershed restoration program in lower Redwood Creek in 1978. Since then basin conditions have changed drastically through removal of about 300 km of abandoned logging roads and revegetation of previously logged areas. The purpose of this retrospective study was to assess the impacts of upslope restoration efforts on stream health by comparing conditions in the 1970’s to those in 2004 and 2005." Methods from Executive Summary: "Tributary stream reaches at several of the USGS study sites (Iwatsubo and others, 1975) were resampled in both the spring and fall for two years, in 2004 and 2005 using the same techniques as in the 1970’s. Results were compared to those from 30 years ago to determine if there was an improvement in aquatic health as measured by abundance and diversity of benthic macroinvertebrates, periphyton, stream amphibians, fish condition, and physical habitat parameters. Additional sites with recent road restoration work were also sampled to provide a baseline for future studies."
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Madej, Mary; Ambrose, Heather; Currens, Christopher; Hadden, Samantha
- Date of Issue
- 2006
- Publisher
- USGS, USDI
- Units
- REDW
- Keywords
- Absence (Biodiversity), Abundance (Biodiversity), Amphibia (Amphibians), Benthic macro invertebrates, Canopy, Distribution (Biodiversity), Fish, Hydrology, Impact, Macro invertebrates, Macroinvertebrates, Periphyton, Presence (Biodiversity), Redwood Creek Basin, Stream, Stream Ecology, stream health, Stream Measurements, Surface Water, Taxa Links To References, Water Quality, Watershed Restoration