Baseflow Stream Channel Design: An Approach to Restoration that Optimizes Resource Values and Ecosystem Services

TL;DRAbstract

Stream restoration is a large market in the restoration field with millions of dollars expended annually. The prevailing approach for stream restoration is the natural channel design technique popularized by Rosgen which focuses on designing channels capable of dynamic equilibrium through the use of a bankfull channel designed to be competent with respect to sediment transport (i.e., sediment in, sediment out). The sediment competence requirement of the bankfull channel design approach limits the opportunity for material processing. In a another line of research, the consideration of pre-colonial land clearing practices and the resulting historic changes to stream morphology and sediment supply (i.e., legacy sediments) presents an opportunity to refine our understanding of what constitutes a ‘natural’ stream. Starting just a few hundred years ago colonial land clearing practices resulted in the delivery of huge volumes of sediment, burying the historic stream systems and resulting in o

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