Restoration Techniques
Plumas Corporation uses a wide range of techniques to address degraded stream and meadow systems. The techniques used for a particular project are determined by the goals of the landowner, constraints of the landscape and land use, and severity of the degradation.
Meadow/Floodplain Restoration
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Pond and Plug
Pond and Plug is a technique used to restore the floodplain function of a meadow system. Construction involves excavating borrow material, usually from portions of the degraded channel, to construct ‘plugs’ that fill the channel to historic meadow floodplain elevation. The excavated sites, or borrow pits, fill with water from the stream and groundwater resulting in ‘ponds’. The stream flow often reclaims the historic ‘remnant’ stream channel on the surface of the meadow floodplain. Only on rare occasions does a new channel need to be constructed. Project Examples: Red Clover McReynolds Clarks Creek Big Meadows |
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Riffle Augmentation
Riffle augmentation addresses floodplain function by raising the level of the channel through the construction of raised riffles within the channel to near the meadow surface. This raises groundwater levels, increases vegetative cover, and spreads flows over the meadow floodplain. Project Examples: Little Last Chance Creek |
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Stream Channel Restoration
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Bank stabilization
Bank stabilization with rock, wood, and/or vegetation consist of a series of structures angled into the stream to direct flow away from the stream bank and towards the center of the channel. To reduce erosion, these structures are used in conjunction with laying the banks back to a gentler slope, reducing the opposing gravel bar to floodplain elevation, and planting stabilizing vegetation. Project Examples: Sulphur Creek Spanish Creek (Dyrr Bank) |
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Large woody debris and whole tree jams
Utilized to control and reduce stream channel erosion, tree jams trap sediment, raise the river channel and eventually reduce channel instability. Project Examples: Silver Creek |
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Geomorphic Fish Passage
In some locations when fish passage is impeded by a vertical drop, the streambed can be re-constructed with rock into a series of riffles and pools, over a pre-determined length to achieve a slope of five percent of less. Project Examples: Greenhorn Creek at Shea Ranch |
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Bedload Management
The transport and deposition of a stream system’s sediment load, especially the bedload fraction, is vital for channel formation and maintenance. Stream systems with an excessive amount of bedload are inherently unstable, rapidly change, and contain poor and infrequent aquatic and riparian habitat features. Bedload management involves reducing the amount transported and deposited, thereby improving channel stability (position and form), both on-site and downstream. Techniques used include restoring channel transport capabilities, reducing the size and height of depositional bars, stabilizing eroding banks, creating and expanding floodplains, directly removing excess material from the system, and creating designated off-channel areas for the long-term recruitment and removal of excess material. Project Examples: Spanish Creek in Meadow Valley |
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47 Trilogy Lane, PO Box 3880, Quincy, CA 95971
(530)283-3739
(530)283-3739
