The land clearing and draining industriousness of the early European settlers largely erased riparian wetlands and multi-threaded channels from the California landscape, as well as from our collective consciousness. Incised, simplified channels are the result of those efforts and what we tend to manage our waterways to be. The importance of multi-threaded channels for ecosystem function and biotic productivity is beginning to be understood and taken into account in restoration design. However, the preference for single-thread regime channels with sediment transport continuity runs deep in the stream restoration community. Dr. Brian Cluer will present the recently developed stream evolution model (SEM) (Cluer and Thorne 2014), which describes the complex habitat and ecosystem benefits associated with various channel types and their stages of evolution. The SEM framework shows that there are significant differences in these habitat and ecosystem values between incised, floodplain-connected, and multi-threaded streams. The implications for stream conservation and eco-hydrologic restoration will be explored. A case study on the transition from incised channel to multi-threaded wetland channel complex, and the resulting change in ecosystem benefits observed, will be presented by Lauren Hammack. The story takes place in Willow Creek, a tributary to the lower Russian River and a high-priority watershed for Coho salmon recovery and the Russian River Coho Salmon Captive Broodstock Program. The land use history of Willow Creek watershed, the channel management practices, and the restoration decision-making challenges are representative of situations throughout California.
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