Nick Bouwes

Anabranch Solutions

Beaver have been referred to as ecosystem engineers because of the large impacts their dam building activities have on the landscape; however, the benefits they may provide to fluvial fish species has been debated. We conducted a watershed-scale experiment to test how increasing beaver dam and colony persistence in a highly degraded incised stream...

The purpose of this design manual is to provide restoration practitioners with guidelines for implementing a subset of low-tech tools —namely beaver dam analogues (BDAs) and post-assisted log structures (PALS)—for initiating process-based restoration in structurally-starved riverscapes. While the concept of process-based restoration in riverscapes...

Water scarcity and climatic variability shape human settlement patterns and wildlife distribution and abundance on arid and semi-arid rangelands. Riparian areas-the transition between water and land-are rare but disproportionately important habitats covering just a fraction of the land surface (commonly < 2% in the western U.S.). Riparian areas pro...

Beaver are an integral component of hydrologic, geomorphic, and biotic processes within North American stream systems, and their propensity to build dams alters stream and ripar-ian structure and function to the benefit of many aquatic and terrestrial species. Recognizing this, beaver relocation efforts and/or application of structures designed to...

Prioritizing restoration opportunities effectively across entire riverscape networks (i.e., riverine landscape including floodplain and stream channel networks) can be difficult when relying on in‐channel, reach‐scale monitoring data, or watershed‐level summaries that fail to capture riverscape heterogeneity and the information necessary to impleme...

This report describes the adaptive management and monitoring plan for a large scale restoration project in Kern Plateau meadows.

This report describes low-tech process-based restoration design for 15 meadows in the Kern River Plateau. The document was edited by and prepared for Trout Unlimited. The project was funded by California Department of Fish and Wildlife. The project is a collaboration USFS Region 5 and Inyo National Forest, CDFW, TU, Anabranch Solutions, Waterways C...

This report is the monitoring plan to evaluate responses of Kern Plateau meadows to Low-Tech Process-Based Restoration described in the Final Kern Meadows Restoration Design. The documented was prepared for and edited by Trout Unlimited, with funding from California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

An overview of a Riverscape Network Assessment of Lahontan Cutthroat Trout habitat. This is a two-year project, which was initiated by the habitat core team in late 2020 and is just getting underway (as of 01/22/2021). The presentation provides a conceptual background for our habitat assessment approach including an overview of a fairly new stream...

Before-after-control-impact (BACI) experimental designs are commonly used in large-scale environmental experiments but these designs can be confounded by location and time interactions. Staircase designs, where replicate treatments are staggered temporally, have been suggested as an alternative to BACI designs. We performed a simulation study based...

The Asotin Creek Intensively Monitored Watershed Project was established in 2008 as a large-scale, long-term experiment to test the effectiveness of stream restoration at improving freshwater habitat conditions and increasing production and productivity of a wild summer run steelhead population. Asotin Creek is recovering from past disturbances suc...

Stream ecosystems can be dramatically altered by dam‐building activities of North American beaver (Castor canadensis). The extent to which beavers’ ecosystem engineering alters riverscapes is driven by the density, longevity, and size (i.e. height and length) of the dams constructed. In comparison to the relative ubiquity of beaver dams on the land...

The Low-Tech Process Based Restoration of Riverscapes Pocket Guide is an illustrated and condensed version of the Design Manual (http://lowtechpbr.restoration.usu.edu). The pocket guide is designed to fit in your pocket (4 x 6") to use as a reference in the field.

- Riverscapes are composed of connected floodplain and channel habitats that together make up the valley bottom. - The scope of degradation of riverscapes is massive. Tens of thousands of miles of riverscapes are in poor or fair condition. - Structural-starvation is both a direct cause of degradation, as well as a consequence of land use changes...

Chapter 3 of of Low-Tech Process-Based Restoration of Riverscapes: Design Manual (http://lowtechpbr.restoration.usu.edu) Planning for low-tech process-based restoration is similar to planning for other forms of restoration. •We adapt the Conservation Planning Process to show what aspects of the process are distinctive to low-tech process-based re...

Chapter Two of Low-Tech Process-Based Restoration of Riverscapes: Design Manual (http://lowtechpbr.restoration.usu.edu) Low-tech process-based restoration principles are critical to understand as both the basis for effectively applying low-tech restoration treatments and managing expectations about timing and magnitude of outcomes. We propose an...

Chapter 6 of Low-Tech Process-Based Restoration of Riverscapes: Design Manual (http://lowtechpbr.restoration.usu.edu) •Key phases of restoration project implementation include obtaining regulatory consultations and permits, construction, monitoring and adaptive management. •Application of beaver dam analogues (BDAs) and post-assisted log structure...

Chapter 7 of the Low-Tech Process-Based Restoration of Riverscapes - Design Manual (http://lowtechpbr.restoration.usu.edu)

Chapter Four of Low-Tech Process-Based Restoration of Riverscapes: Design Manual (http://lowtechpbr.restoration.usu.edu Post-assisted log structures (PALS) and beaver dam analogues (BDAs) are hand-built structures. PALS mimicand promote the processes of wood accumulation; whereas BDAs mimic and promote beaver dam activity. •PALS and BDAs are perme...

Chapter 5 of Low-Tech Process-Based Restoration of Riverscapes: Design Manual (http://lowtechpbr.restoration.usu.edu) • A complex is a group of structures designed to work together to mimic and/or promote specific processes to achieve one or more project objectives. Complexes are the building blocks of a low-tech restoration design. • The low-tec...

The following describes continued progress toward assessment of Chinook salmon populations and habitat restoration opportunities within the upper Grande Ronde River (UGR) and Catherine Creek (CC) watersheds using a life-cycle modeling (LCM) framework. The work presented here extends LCM development efforts previously initiated by the Columbia River...

Freshwater habitat restoration is a major conservation objective, motivating efforts to restore habitat complexity and quality for fishes. Restoration based on the engineering activities of beavers (Castor canadensis) increases fish habitat complexity, but how this affects fish habitat use and movement behaviours is not well known. We used a networ...

This document summarizes the work products that ISEMP and CHaMP produced. Much of this work was done in collaboration with State and Tribal fishery and habitat agency staff and other BPA FWP projects. All of the work was done to support specific tributary habitat monitoring and evaluation objectives under the 2008 Biological Opinion for listed salm...

Before-after-control-impact (BACI) experimental designs are commonly used in large-scale experiments to test for environmental impacts. However, high natural variability of environmental conditions and populations, and low replication in both treatment and control areas in time and space hampers detection of responses. We compare the power of two a...

KEY FINDINGS & RECOMMENDED RESTORATION STRATEGIES Background This report is part two of an assessment and planning process begun in 2016. The goal of the two reports was to determine the condition of streams, fish use, and factors limiting fish production (Part 1), and develop a framework for prioritizing restoration and develop a series of conce...

This corrects the article DOI: 10.1038/srep28581.

KEY FINDINGS & RECOMMENDED RESTORATION STRATEGIES Background We present a watershed assessment of four watersheds in the Asotin County Assessment Area (hereafter the study area): Alpowa Creek, Asotin Creek, Couse Creek, and Tenmile Creek. The Salmon Recovery Funding Board funded the assessment and the Asotin County Conservation District administere...

Spatial variation in fish densities across river networks suggests that the influence of food and habitat resources on assemblages varies greatly throughout watersheds. Conceptual models predict that in situ primary production should vary with river characteristics, but the influence of autochthonous resource availability on the capacity for river...

This paper shows example applications of the Geomorphic Unit Tool, which is a GIS algorithm that will map geomorphic units from high resolution topography. Documentation and code can be viewed and downloaded from https://github.com/Riverscapes/pyGUT.

Instream geomorphic units (GUs) are landforms at the 1 to 10 m scale that exhibit similar morphometric and hydraulic parameters. Moreover, GUs are a key scale for understanding aquatic organism-habitat relationships. Delineation of GUs is typically carried out in the field or as manual desktop exercise. However, both of these approaches often suffe...

Closed population models are commonly used to estimate stream salmonid abundances using mark–recapture information collected during electrofishing surveys. To meet the model assumption of geographic closure, block nets are often used to prevent emigration and immigration of fish during the survey. Increased sampling and tagging efforts in an open s...

Damming of streams by North American Beaver (Castor canadensis) has been shown to provide a host of potentially desirable hydraulic, hydrologic, geomorphic and ecological impacts. Notably, substantial increases in surface water storage and ground water storage alter the timing and delivery of water, and anecdotal evidence suggests these changes may...

This atlas, consisting of 9 plates accompanies and provides the basis for the article in Journal of Maps. It shows specific maps for each stage of a geomorphic assessment in the Middle Fork John Day Watershed, including reach types, geomorphic condition, recovery potential, and a strategic management plan.

A geomorphic assessment of the Middle Fork John Day Watershed, Oregon, USA, was used to generate a hierarchical, map-based understanding of watershed impairments and potential opportunities for improvements. Specifically, we (1) assessed river diversity (character and behavior) and patterns of reach types (and their controls); (2) evaluated the geo...

The goal of salmonid habitat monitoring programs is to measure habitat attributes linked to salmonid productivity based on protocols that have sufficient precision to detect environmental variation at relevant spatial and temporal scales. Benthic macroinvertebrate community composition often is evaluated as part of habitat monitoring and assessment...

The Bridge Creek Intensively Monitored Watershed (IMW) project was launched in 2007 as a watershed scale restoration experiment designed to test whether encouraging beaver activity could improve habitat to the benefit of a threatened steelhead population. Currently in its 7th year of post restoration monitoring, the Bridge Creek project offers insi...

With high-resolution topography and imagery in fluvial environments, the potential to quantify physical fish habitat at the reach-scale has never been better. Increased availability of hydraulic, temperature and food availability data and models have given rise to a host of species and life stage specific ecohydraulic fish habitat models ranging fr...

Invited talk at Binghamton Symposium on Connectivity in Geomorphology.

Context for fluvial connectivity

Before-after-control-impact (BACI) designs are an effective method to evaluate natural and human-induced perturbations on ecological variables when treatment sites cannot be randomly chosen. While effect sizes of interest can be tested with frequentist methods, using Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampling methods, probabilities of effect...

This report is designed to summarize the lessons learned and policy implications from the implementation of Bonneville Power Administration’s (BPA) Integrated Status and Effectiveness Monitoring Program (ISEMP; BPA Project 2003-017-00) and the Columbia Habitat Monitoring Program (CHaMP; BPA Project 2011-006-00) during 2015. ISEMP and CHaMP are addr...

Stream classification provides a means to understand the diversity and distribution of channels and floodplains that occur across a landscape while identifying links between geomorphic form and process. Accordingly, stream classification is frequently employed as a watershed planning, management, and restoration tool. At the same time, there has be...

Supporting text, figures, and tables for manuscript. (DOCX)

High resolution topography of rivers has facilitated quantification of physical habitat at the reach scale like never before. Such ecohydraulic models range from simple habitat suitability curve models to mechanistic bioenergetic models. However, it is rare that such models are upscaled meaningfully to assess entire fish populations. We present ins...

Across the Pacific Northwest, at least 17 intensively monitored watershed projects have been implemented to test the effectiveness of a broad range of stream restoration actions for increasing the freshwater production of salmon and steelhead and to better understand fish–habitat relationships. We assess the scope and status of these projects and r...

Despite substantial effort and resources being invested in habitat rehabilitation for stream fishes, mechanistic approaches to designing and evaluating how habitat actions influence the fish populations they are intended to benefit remain rare. We used a Net Rate of Energy Intake (NREI) model to examine expected and observed changes in energetic ha...

Substantial research effort has been devoted to understanding stream-dwelling salmonids’ use of summer rearing and growth habitat, with a subset of studies focusing on foraging position selection and the energetic trade-offs of differential habitat use. To date, however, cost–benefit analyses for most foraging model studies have focused on small sa...

Abstract The construction of beaver dams facilitates a suite of hydrologic, hydraulic, geomorphic, and ecological feedbacks that increase stream complexity and channel–floodplain connectivity that benefit aquatic and terrestrial biota. Depending on where beaver build dams within a drainage network, they impact lateral and longitudinal connectivity...

Fluvial geomorphologists use close to a 100 different terms to describe the landforms that make up riverscapes. We identified 68 of these existing terms that describe truly distinctive landforms, in which form is maintained under characteristic conditions and fluvial processes. Clear topographic definitions for these landforms to consistently ident...

Events such as volcanic eruptions may act as disturbance agents modifying the landscape spatial diversity and increasing environmental instability. On June 4, 2011 the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcanic complex located on Chile (2236 m.a.s.l., 40° 02' 24? S- 70° 14' 26? W) experience a rift zone eruption ejecting during the first day 950 million metric...

Instream wood promotes habitat heterogeneity through its influence on flow hydraulics and channel geomorphology. Within the Colum-bia River Basin, USA, wood is vital for the creation and maintenance of habitat for threatened salmonids. However, our understanding of the relative roles of the climatic, geomorphic, and ecological processes that source...

Steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) of the Pacific Northwest co-evolved with the once ubiquitous American beaver (Castor canadensis). Extirpation of beaver and their associated dams are thought to have had negative impacts on stream function in desert watersheds where high water temperatures, low water levels. And simplified habitat can limit steelhead...

Bridge Creek, a tributary to the Lower John Day River, flows through the high-desert of central Oregon and serves as an important spawning and rearing stream for Mid-Columbia Steelhead. Much of Bridge Creek suffers from a high degree of channel incision and features an overall lack of habitat complexity, hydrologic disconnection from groundwater an...

Instream wood promotes habitat heterogeneity through its influence on flow hydraulics and channel geomorphology. Within the Columbia River Basin, USA, wood is vital for the creation and maintenance of habitat for threatened salmonids. However, our understanding of the relative roles of the climatic, geomorphic, and ecological processes that source...

Instream wood promotes habitat heterogeneity through its influence on flow hydraulics and channel geomorphology. Within the Columbia River Basin, USA, wood is vital for the creation and maintenance of habitat for threatened salmonids. However, our understanding of the relative roles of the climatic, geomorphic, and ecological processes that source...

• Asotin Creek in southeast Washington was chosen as a site to develop an Intensively Monitored Watershed Project (IMW). The goal of the IMW is to implement stream restoration actions in an experimental framework to determine the effectiveness of restoration at increasing salmon and steelhead production and to identify casual mechanisms of the fish...

Stream classification provides a means to understand the diversity and distribution of channels and floodplains that occur across a landscape while drawing linkages between geomorphic form and process. Accordingly, stream classification is frequently employed as a watershed planning, management, and restoration tool. At the same time, there has bee...

Stream classification provides a means to understand the diversity and distribution of channels and floodplains that occur across a landscape while drawing linkages between geomorphic form and process. Accordingly, stream classification is frequently employed as a watershed planning, management, and restoration tool. At the same time, there has bee...

This combined report for Bonneville Power Administra-tion (BPA) Integrated Status and Effectiveness Monitoring Program (ISEMP; BPA Project 2003-017) and the Columbia Habitat Monitoring Program (CHaMP; BPA Project 2011-006) covers Calendar Year (CY) 2014. Here we give an update on ISEMP’s progress and lessons learned as we work toward the end of the...

Stream classification provide a means to understand the diversity and distributions of channel and floodplains that occur across a landscape while drawing linkages between geomorphic form and process. Accordingly, stream classification is frequently employed as a watershed planning tool. In practice, a variety of frameworks are available to manager...

This report, contracted by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (UDWR), establishes an Adaptive Beaver Management Plan for the Hardware Ranch property. The purpose of this report is to allow the beaver population residing in lower Curtis Creek to remain while mitigating their impacts on Hardware Ranch Wildlife Management Area (WMA) infrastructur...

This report was contracted by the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs to inventory the existing geomorphic conditions and recovery potential of the Pine Creek Watershed, and to lay out a strategic plan for restoration actions that will inform a later detailed design plan. The report presents the results of a hydrologic and geomorphic assessment und...

We conducted simulations to compare the precision and bias of survival estimates from Cormack–Jolly–Seber (CJS) and Barker models to known parameter values based on empirical data for steelhead/resident Rainbow Trout Oncorhynchus mykiss from the John Day River, Oregon. We simulated seasonal differences in recapture and survival rates, and we varied...

Digital elevation models (DEMs) derived from ground-based topographic surveys have become ubiquitous in the field of fluvial geomorphology. Their wide application in spatially explicit analysis includes hydraulic modeling, habitat modeling, and morphological sediment budgeting. However, there is a lack of understanding regarding the repeatability a...