Cow Creek Restoration
Project Goals and Objectives
Decades of human impacts have left Cow Creek's riparian habitat degraded and channel over-simplified. Recent wildfires have exacerbated these conditions, with post-fire debris flows leading to severe incision. Our restoration goals for this project focused on improving Cow Creek's riparian habitat and improving the heterogeneity of the stream channel. Project goals included: reconnecting the severely incised channel to its floodplain, increasing channel complexity, and improving riparian vegetation.
Structure Construction Elements
In order to accomplish these goals, we focused on adding woody structure to the stream to add complexity to stream dynamics, moderate stream power during high flows, store water for longer in the dry season, and capture sediment to eventually build the creek back towards its floodplain. Construction began in October of 2022, when the MOBP team installed 50 BDAs using locally-sourced posts and evergreen boughs and 22 small wood jams from nearby dead wood. We returned in summer of 2023 to perform adaptive management, adding more evergreen boughs to our structures to allow sediment to continue to collect and pond levels to rise.
Project Photos
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Cover Photo
2024-11-05
A BDA collects sediment and slows water. Note the elevation difference between the top pool and the creek below the BDA.
2023-12-12
A set of small log jams helps to create in-stream habitat complexity.
2023-05-19
A pool forms behind a BDA-wood jam combo.
2023-03-29
A set of BDAs works to raise the narrow, incised stream bed.