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  • Joe Wheaton

NOAA: Linking Fisheries, beaver, geomorphic and physical habitat monitoring data to better understand the effectiveness of restoration efforts in Bridge Creek

project overview

purpose of project

The purpose of this project is to assess the role of beaver in shaping steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) habitat complexity and thermal refugia in Bridge Creek, tributary to the John Day River in central Oregon. ​

abstract

The incised and degraded habitat of Bridge Creek, tributary to the John Day River in central Oregon, is thought to be limiting the local population of ESA-listed steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Restoration efforts for this watershed involve partnering with beaver to encourage dam building activity to aggrade an incised channel, promote floodplain reconnection, and overall improvement of in-channel and riparian habitat quality and complexity. The restoration efforts are part of the Integrated Status and Effectiveness Monitoring Program (ISEMP), a program with goals to test monitoring protocols and restoration strategies for ESA-listed salmonid species in the Columbia River Basin. The restoration strategy being tested in Bridge Creek involves the installation of over 100 beaver dam support (BDS) structures that are designed to either mimic beaver dams or support existing beaver dams.

The overall objective of this study is to determine if the BDS structures have had an effect on stream channel habitat complexity and thermal refugia in selected sections of Bridge Creek. Analysis of stream temperature data in restoration treatment and control areas will show the effects of beaver dams on stream temperature. Analysis of aerial imagery and high resolution topographic data will exhibit how the number and types of geomorphic units have changed after the construction of beaver dams. Combined, the results of this research are aimed to increase our understanding of how beaver dams impact fish habitat and stream temperature. ​

significance of project

This project will fill gaps in the literature, and will increase our understanding of how beaver dams impact stream temperature and stream channel geomorphology. The results of this project will 
be aimed at on-the-ground restoration practitioners as well as researchers in this field.

bridge creek bds structures

Picture
Figure 1. Bridge Creek study site map.

methods

Data collection occurred from June 25 to August 21, 2012, and was completed at a total of 5 study reaches on mainstem Bridge Creek. There were two control reaches and three treatment reaches (“beaver influenced”). Average site length is 165 meters. The complete data collection for a site entailed topographic data collection with an rtkGPS, temperature data collection, blimp aerial imagery, geomorphic and hydraulic unit mapping, snorkel survey, and flow measurement.
A survey grade Leica System 1200 rtkGPS Base and Rover was used to collect high resolution topographic data of each site. This GPS unit was also used in combination with a temperature probe to map stream temperatures, and it was used to map geomorphic and hydraulic units. Temperature data was collected using Onset Hobo TidBit Pro v2 Water Temperature Sensors, Onset Hobo Pro v2 Water Temperature Sensors (U22 model), and an Omega HH41 High Accuracy Temperature Probe. The data from the rtkGPS/temperature probe combination will be used to map stream temperatures at a higher resolution than temperature sensors alone. 

Temperature sensors were deployed at an average spacing of approximately two meters throughout each study reach. The sensors were attached to rebar driven into the stream channel, and were placed just above the bed surface. Temperature sensors collected data every five minutes, and were in-situ for at least a week at each study reach. 

Aerial imagery of each study reach was collected using a blimp. Snorkel surveys of each site documented species, number, and locations of fish using the reach during the temperature data collection.  ​

preliminary results

  • When comparing the frequencies of stream temperatures observed in the Lower Owens treatment reach and Boundary control reach over the period of August 13-21, 2012, we found that the control reach had greater heterogeneity in stream temperature, but it also contained a higher number of temperature values that have been cited as lethal to steelhead trout (Wehrly et al., 2007) and a lower number of cooler temperatures that could be used as refugia.
  • The Lower Owens site temperature data exhibits areas of upwelling that was discovered in stream sections located downstream of beaver dams. Stream temperatures were observed to be up to ten degrees cooler in some areas of upwelling. It was also found that the heterogeneity in stream temperature is greater in the restoration treatment reach than the control reach, at the time period in which the surveys occurred, which was at the peak of the diel cycle

​Preliminary Conclusions / Future Work

  • Based off of the stream temperature data from the Lower Owens and Boundary reaches, beaver dams appear to have an effect, thereby increasing the thermal heterogeneity at peak times of the diel cycle. In turn, it can be concluded that this restoration technique could have profound effects on the amount of available thermal refugia for endangered steelhead trout rearing throughout the warm summer months when stream temperatures often exceed lethal limits.
  • Future work will focus on completing the analysis of habitat complexity before and after restoration treatment, and tying these results together with the temperature analysis results.

​Related Links & Research

  • ELR/BPA: ISEMP Bridge Creek Restoration & IMW
  • Integrated Status & Effectiveness Monitoring Program
  • ISEMP - Bridge Creek Intensively Monitored Watershed
  • Bridge Creek IMW Collaborators Pages
  • Columbia Habitat Monitoring Program
  • CHAMP - Bridge Creek Sites

project outputs

presentations from this project

Poster: Consolati, F.N., Wheaton, J.M., Neilson, B.T., N. Bouwes, and M.M. Pollock (2012), The role of beaver in shaping steelhead trout thermal refugia in a central Oregon stream, presented at 2012 Binghamton Geomorphology Symposium, Jackson Hole, Wyoming, 21-23 Sept. ​

project details

Project PI:  Joseph Wheaton 
Project Personnel from ET-AL: Florence Consolati (MS Student)
Project Collaborators: Michael Pollock (NOAA), Nick Bouwes (ELR), Beth Neilson (USU), and Chris Jordan (NOAA)
Funding Source: NOAA Northwest Fisheries Science Center (NOAA Award: RA133F11SE2628)
Project Start Date: September, 2011
Project End Date (anticipated): September, 2013
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This work is licensed under a
​ 
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
  • Home
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      • Karen Bartelt
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      • Research Scientists >
        • Joe Wheaton
        • Nicolaas Bouwes
        • Wally Macfarlane
        • Stephen Bennett
      • Technicians >
        • Cashe Rasmussen
        • Chalese Hafen
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          • Brian Ferrara
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      • Former Graduate Students >
        • Sara Bangen
        • Reid Camp
        • Florence Consolati
        • Daniel Hamill
        • Konrad Hafen
        • James Hensleigh
        • Nate Hough-Snee
        • Alan Kasprak
        • Martha Jensen
        • Ryan Lokteff
        • Connor Penrod
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        • Braden Anderson
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        • Jordan Burningham
        • Kenny Demeurichy
        • Taylor Dudunake
        • Martha Jensen
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        • Jordan Gilbert
        • Thomas Hafen
        • Landon Haycock
        • Matt Meier
        • Chris Smith
        • Geoff Stevens
      • Visiting Scholars >
        • Ester Ramos
  • FHC Projects
    • Current Projects >
      • Beaver Dam Censusing
      • Birch Creek Restoration
      • Escalante Watershed
      • BRAT 2018-2019 >
        • BRAT-Yakama
        • BRAT-John Day
        • BRAT-NF Burnt River
        • BRAT-Idaho
        • BRAT-Utah
        • BRAT-TNC
        • BRAT-GYA
        • Survey123
      • ELR: Asotin LWD Restoration and IMW
      • Price River Channel Analysis
    • Past Projects >
      • BLM >
        • BLM: Historic Sand Cliff Signatures Public Archeology Program
      • DOE: ICRRR >
        • DOE/ICRRR: Geomorphic Change Detection 4.0 Software Development
        • DOE/ICRRR: Geomorphic Change Detection in the Grand Canyon
        • DOE/ICRRR: MoRPHED PhD Studentship
      • Idaho Power Company >
        • Idaho Power: TLS Data Analysis
      • ELR >
        • ELR/BPA: CHaMP Grand Ronde Crew Variability Study
        • ELR/BPA: ISEMP Lemhi Topographic Survey Technique Intercomparison
        • ELR/BPA: ISEMP Bridge Creek Restoration & IMW
        • ELR/FHC/CTWS: Pine Creek Beaver Assisted Restoration Pilot Project
      • NSF >
        • NSF: zCloudTools: Making Point Clouds Useful for Earth Science
        • NSF: Sensitivity of Braided River Morphodynamics to Sediment Supply
      • UDWR >
        • UDWR: Beaver Restoration Assessment Tool (BRAT)
      • USFS >
        • USFS Classification of Columbia River Basin Riparian Vegetation
        • USFS: Comparison of Traditional Versus Ground-Based LiDaR Instream Haibtat Assessments
        • USFS: Temple Fork Watershed Fish & Beaver Ecology
      • USGS >
        • USGS: Big Rivers Monitoring Protocol Development
        • USGS: Dynamism and Persistence of Eddy Sand Bars in Grand Canyon
        • USGS: Riparian Vegetation Analysis
        • USGS: Support in Geographic and Geomorphic Information Analysis for the Colorado River in Grand Canyon
      • Other Sponsors (one off) >
        • BPA/SFR: Development of CHaMP Transformation Tool
        • GCT: Pilot Study: Testing the Beaver Restoration Assessment Tool (BRAT)
        • NOAA: Linking Fisheries,
        • NPS: Assessment of Indicator Sites
        • USU: Tracking Ecogeomorphic Dynamics in Beaver Dam Complexes
    • Study Site Pages >
      • Bridge Creek >
        • 2009 BDSS Structures
        • Bridge Creek April 2010 Drone Survey
      • River Feshie >
        • The River Feshie Catchment
        • Our Research
        • The Team
        • Posters, Papers, & More
        • Photo Gallery
  • Resources
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      • GIS Help >
        • ArcGIS Education Edition
        • GIS Data Sources >
          • Connecting To The APFO Services
          • Connecting to the Utah AGRC Discover Imagery and Base Map Server
          • High Resolution Imagery for Utah State
      • How to Use Specific Software >
        • Adobe Illustrator >
          • Making GCD Figures for ET-AL Lab Using ArcGIS & Adobe Illustrator
        • ArcGIS Desktop - ArcMap >
          • GIS Tutorials
          • Creating DEMs, TINs and Terrains
          • How to divide polylines into a specified segment length
          • Simple Change Detection in ArcGIS
          • Working with Styles in ArcGIS
          • Fixing ActiveX Warning in ArcGIS 10.5
        • Box >
          • Migrating to Box Drive from Box Sync
        • EndNote >
          • EndNote X4 Basics
        • FastStone Capture
        • GitHub >
          • Make a GitHub Account
        • Picasa >
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            • Cite in Word
      • Reccomended Software & Utilities
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        • Writing Scientific Papers
        • Uploading Content to Research Gate
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        • Editing Workshop Flyers & Webpages
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        • Vignettes
      • Internal FHC Announcements
      • FHC Workshops
      • ETAL Projects on Box
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    • River Links >
      • Classification Schemes >
        • Eco-Geo-Hydro Mess
      • Free Literature
      • Rivers in the News
      • Videos & Galleries
  • Joe Wheaton