The Issue: Streamflow in the lower 3.6 miles of the gravel-bedded Vance Creek often goes subsurface in the summer, limiting potential utilization by fish. There is an interest in stream restoration projects that might improve low-flow habitat conditions and connectivity, but their design and implementation are limited by a lack of knowledge about sediment transport conditions in the reach.
How USGS will help: The USGS will collect bedload and suspended sediment samples in lower Vance Creek to better understand sediment transport in the system. The resulting data will be used to assess current river conditions and potential restoration activities.
Problem: Streamflow in the lower 3.6 miles of the gravel-bedded Vance Creek often goes subsurface in the summer, limiting potential utilization by fish. There is an interest in stream restoration projects that might improve low-flow habitat conditions and connectivity, but their design and implementation are limited by a lack of knowledge about sediment transport conditions in the reach.
Objectives: The objective of this study is to collect discrete bedload and suspended sediment samples that, in combination with concurrent discharge records, can provide information about the magnitude, frequency and grain size characteristics of sediment transport in the reach.
Relevance and Benefits: Locally, information about bedload transport and bed mobility will aid in the design of restoration projects that might effectively and durably improve habitat conditions and connectivity. More broadly, regional understanding of bed load fluxes and channel change remain one of the less-well understood components of river management, limited in large part by the rarity of direct bed load sampling. Opportunities to expand the number of available measurements help build an understanding of sediment transport rates and processes in the region.
Approach: Discrete bedload and suspended sediment samples will be collected during periods of high flow, with a target of 4-5 samples per year for two years. Rating curves relating sediment transport rates and concurrent discharge (USGS 12061250, Vance Creek above Kirkland Creek near Potlach, WA) will be used to convert the continuous discharge record into continuous estimates of bedload and suspended sediment flux, which can be aggregated to estimate annual loads.
The Issue: Streamflow in the lower 3.6 miles of the gravel-bedded Vance Creek often goes subsurface in the summer, limiting potential utilization by fish. There is an interest in stream restoration projects that might improve low-flow habitat conditions and connectivity, but their design and implementation are limited by a lack of knowledge about sediment transport conditions in the reach.
How USGS will help: The USGS will collect bedload and suspended sediment samples in lower Vance Creek to better understand sediment transport in the system. The resulting data will be used to assess current river conditions and potential restoration activities.
Problem: Streamflow in the lower 3.6 miles of the gravel-bedded Vance Creek often goes subsurface in the summer, limiting potential utilization by fish. There is an interest in stream restoration projects that might improve low-flow habitat conditions and connectivity, but their design and implementation are limited by a lack of knowledge about sediment transport conditions in the reach.
Objectives: The objective of this study is to collect discrete bedload and suspended sediment samples that, in combination with concurrent discharge records, can provide information about the magnitude, frequency and grain size characteristics of sediment transport in the reach.
Relevance and Benefits: Locally, information about bedload transport and bed mobility will aid in the design of restoration projects that might effectively and durably improve habitat conditions and connectivity. More broadly, regional understanding of bed load fluxes and channel change remain one of the less-well understood components of river management, limited in large part by the rarity of direct bed load sampling. Opportunities to expand the number of available measurements help build an understanding of sediment transport rates and processes in the region.
Approach: Discrete bedload and suspended sediment samples will be collected during periods of high flow, with a target of 4-5 samples per year for two years. Rating curves relating sediment transport rates and concurrent discharge (USGS 12061250, Vance Creek above Kirkland Creek near Potlach, WA) will be used to convert the continuous discharge record into continuous estimates of bedload and suspended sediment flux, which can be aggregated to estimate annual loads.