Development of Riparian Monitoring Protocols

Research Task: 8327CMZ.7.0
Task Manager: Mike Scott

Although of limited spatial extent, riparian ecosystems of the Colorado Plateau are critical landscape elements with uniquely high levels of biological diversity. These systems are structured and maintained by physical and biological processes across a range of scales. If channel- and floodplain-forming processes are altered, it typically results in the loss or ecological simplification of native riparian communities. The most significant anthropogenic stressors to steams of this region include activities that disrupt natural flows of water and sediment, including damming and diversion of streamflow or construction of channel-stabilization structures. The objective of this task is to develop a monitoring protocol that will provide natural resource managers with a baseline against which to gauge the long-term status and trends of riparian resources relative to natural processes and anthropogenic stressors, as well as a tool to evaluate the effectiveness of management interventions aimed at protecting or restoring riparian ecosystems.

 For more information contact Mike Scott