Riverscapes as natural infrastructure: Meeting challenges of climate adaptation and ecosystem restoration

Skidmore, Peter; Wheaton, Joseph M.

doi:10.1016/j.ancene.2022.100334

Cited by 39 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…We also suggest that an increased area of inundation has enhanced the capacity of this riverscape to retain water for periods longer than expected during extended drought. Traditional stream restoration approaches are typically too expensive and small in size to match what has taken place naturally on the SRR (Skidmore & Wheaton, 2022). This realization has led us to believe that in order to promote largescale, habitat-forming and ecologically beneficial restoration in desert river tributaries, there needs to be an increased emphasis on large-scale, process-based approaches to restoration (Wohl, 2019;Ciotti, Mckee, Pope, Kondolf, & Pollock, 2021;Skidmore & Wheaton, 2022).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Traditional stream restoration approaches are typically too expensive and small in size to match what has taken place naturally on the SRR (Skidmore & Wheaton, 2022). This realization has led us to believe that in order to promote largescale, habitat-forming and ecologically beneficial restoration in desert river tributaries, there needs to be an increased emphasis on large-scale, process-based approaches to restoration (Wohl, 2019;Ciotti, Mckee, Pope, Kondolf, & Pollock, 2021;Skidmore & Wheaton, 2022). If intentional process-based restoration actions were taken on the scale of channel occlusions and valley plugs, we would likely see the creation and maintenance of additional complex habitat, further improving the recruitment and persistence of the native and endangered fishes of the Upper CRB, and contributing to resiliency and refugia in the face of worsening climate change (Fairfax & Whittle, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Expansive, positive changes to habitat diversity following the formation of a valley plug in a degraded desert river

Remiszewski

Budy

Macfarlane

2022

Preprint

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Widespread hydrologic alterations have simplified in-stream habitats in rivers globally, driving population declines and local extirpations of many native fishes. Here, we examine how rapid geomorphic change in a historically degraded desert river has influenced habitat diversification and ecosystem persistence. In 2010, a large reach of the degraded and simplified lower San Rafael River (SRR), Utah, was impacted by the formation of a valley plug and began to shift from a homogenous, single-thread channel to a complex, multi-threaded riverscape. We combined field measurements and drone-collected imagery to document habitat changes due to the valley plug. Our results demonstrate that in 2021, the valley plug reach was more diverse than any other stream reach along the SRR, containing 641% more diverse habitat (e.g., pools, riffles, backwaters) than what was measured in 2015. The plug reach also retained water for periods beyond what was expected during seasonal drying, with the total extent of inundation within the riverscape increasing by over 2,800%. Since the formation of the valley plug, riparian habitat has increased by 230% and channel networks have expanded to more than 50 distinct channels throughout the zone of influence. Our results provide evidence of successful self-restoration in a formerly highly degraded reach of desert river, and encourage new methods of desert river restoration. We aim to inform the use of large-scale, disruptive restoration actions like intentional channel occlusions, with the goal of mitigating the impacts of simplification and increasing habitat persistence in the face of exacerbated aridity in the desert Southwest.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Expansive, positive changes to habitat diversity following the formation of a valley plug in a degraded desert river

Remiszewski

Budy

Macfarlane

2022

Preprint

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“…Restoring the Entiat's fluvial process space would also enhance its hydrologic and geomorphic attributes (Cluer & Thorne, 2014), building resilience by increasing the number of degrees of freedom the fluvial system has available (Hey 1978) to accommodate future disturbances and evolve in response to them, while maintaining its morphological complexity and biodiversity (Wohl et al, 2021). This is especially important in the context of a rapidly changing climate and uncertain future (Beechie et al, 2013; Crozier, Burke, Chasco, Widener, & Zabel, 2021; Skidmore & Wheaton, 2022).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…River‐wetland corridors (RWCs) have particularly high ecological values (Cluer & Thorne, 2014), serving as an ecological nexus for biodiversity (Hauer et al, 2016), but they are among the most threatened ecosystems, globally (Wohl et al, 2021). These corridors have been systematically altered by humankind, at increasingly larger scales, for perhaps 7000 years, with no part of the globe being excepted (Brown et al, 2018; Mays, 2008; Sendzimir & Schmutz, 2018; Skidmore & Wheaton, 2022). In the Pacific Northwest (PNW), anthropogenic impacts did not begin in earnest until the arrival of substantial numbers of European and US settlers, during the 19th century.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rediscovering, reevaluating, and restoring Entiatqua: Identifying pre‐Anthropocene valleys in North Cascadia, USA

Powers

Staab

Cluer

et al. 2022

River Research & Apps

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A maturing body of evidence suggests that anthropogenic impacts on river‐wetland corridors (RWCs) are greater and more widespread than previously recognized. Partly, this stems from the difficulty of differentiating between legacy anthropogenic impacts and channel evolution resulting from natural disturbances. Here, we apply the geomorphic grade line (GGL) relative elevation model (REM) method to reveal pre‐Anthropocene fluvial features for a 42‐km reach of Entiatqua (English translation—the Entiat River) in the North Cascade Mountains, USA. We began by long profiling the entire length of the river valley and defining distinct valley segments based on breaks in profile. Next, we developed models of the valley profile for each segment, known as GGLs, and used them to develop high‐resolution REMs by detrending LiDAR‐derived digital elevation models. We then used the GGL‐REMs to map relict fluvial features in the valley floor. Validating the GGL‐REMs using surficial geologic maps, 14Cdated soil profiles, and the identifiable remnants of historic dams allows us to differentiate surfaces associated with the pre‐Anthropocene from those resulting from anthropogenic activities, including splash damming, channel straightening, large wood removal, and beaver extirpation. Our findings reveal 1–2.5 m of anthropogenically‐driven channel incision in unconfined and partially‐confined valley segments, wherein fluvial sediment balances transitioned from being net depositional to erosive, and later neutral, with river environments in these segments shifting from being complex, ecologically‐rich, RWCs to simpler, ecologically‐impoverished, single‐thread channels, like those found in confined valley segments. The adverse impacts of post‐Anthropocene fluvial responses on salmon habitats were likely profound and may help explain historical and ongoing declines in populations of listed species, including Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and Steelhead Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Our study of Entiatqua, together with evidence from other western US rivers, demonstrates that the GGL‐REM approach can be used to re‐envisage pre‐Anthropocene fluvial process‐form domains including identifying valley segments wherein fluvial responses to human development have disconnected RWCs. Once the pre‐Anthropogenic conditions of rivers like Entiatqua have been recognized, the case for restoring lost RWCs to unlock their ecological potential becomes compelling.

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“…While longitudinal (upstream and downstream) fish passage is receiving important attention, increasingly managers are considering the damage to lateral connectivity and streambeds (Stoffels et al, 2014). This recognition suggests that effective strategies must include a more holistic process‐based restoration (Beechie et al, 2010; Kondolf et al, 2006) and the need for space to accommodate and support not only habitat but fundamental floodplain ecosystem services that benefit society and wildlife (Skidmore & Wheaton, 2022). Such efforts should support inherent stream evolution dynamics (cycles of channel aggradation/degradation, widening/narrowing, meandering/avulsion) in an effort to reverse transformations that have rivers locked into stages that would otherwise be transitional and move them toward stages with more complex habitats and ecosystem benefits (Cluer & Thorne, 2014).…”

Section: Habitat Loss Recognition and Restorationmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Resist‐Accept‐Direct (RAD) future for Salmon in Maine and California: Salmon at the southern edge

Kocik

Hayes

Carlson

et al. 2022

Fisheries Management Eco

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North American salmon once ranged from ocean waters near the Arctic Circle southward to southern New England on the Atlantic and Mexico on the Pacific. The colonial and industrial transformation of rivers and oceans have led to extirpation or endangered status of many southern populations. Today, chronic anthropogenic stressors interact with climate change, which means that effective conservation must address changes in transformed ecosystems. Conservation goals are designed to recover both the species and their habitats. While seemingly congruent, habitat and fish management have different timetables due to speed of changes in climate, habitat, and biological processes relative to regulatory processes, habitat restoration, and project implementation. The Resist‐Accept‐Direct (RAD) framework facilitated exploration of ideas and actions to restore suitable conditions for salmon listed under the Endangered Species Act at their southern edge. Creative and big solutions are needed to recover salmon and RAD provided a way to examine conservation options to sustain salmon in an era of change.

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Riverscapes as natural infrastructure: Meeting challenges of climate adaptation and ecosystem restoration

Cited by 39 publications

References 36 publications

Expansive, positive changes to habitat diversity following the formation of a valley plug in a degraded desert river

Expansive, positive changes to habitat diversity following the formation of a valley plug in a degraded desert river

Rediscovering, reevaluating, and restoring Entiatqua: Identifying pre‐Anthropocene valleys in North Cascadia, USA

A Resist‐Accept‐Direct (RAD) future for Salmon in Maine and California: Salmon at the southern edge

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