Debris flows in the Pacific Northwest play a major role in routing wood and sediment stored on hillslopes and in first- through third-order channels to higher order channels and valley floors. Forest practices on steep, unstable slopes and removal of riparian trees along low-order streams can affect the frequency, magnitude,...
Simulation of storm hydrographs in the Oregon Coast Range was explored using the Soil Conservation Service (SCS) curve number methodology, and by developing and testing an antecedent precipitation index (API) method.
Standard SCS procedures over-estimated peak discharge by about a factor of two (i.e., average over-prediction of 118 percent). When...
Aquatic ecological investigation is expanding to encompass considerations of
multiple scales across large landscapes. Much of the analysis included in this work
focuses specifically on coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) in multiple subbasins on
the Oregon coast. Coho salmon were chosen for an investigation of spatial scales,
network connections, and life...
Streamside buffer strips provide numerous benefits to stream ecosystems. The buffer strips create shade, provide shelter for wildlife, act as barriers to logging debris during and after timber harvest, and serve as a continued source of large woody debris. Quantifying woody inputs resulting from windthrow provides managers with estimates for...
Energy security is a vital but often unmet requirement for community resiliency. Electricity availability is essential to the functioning of the economy, individual households, and the collective essential services that provide health, safety, and the basic human needs to sustain life. Coastal communities in Oregon face special vulnerability because they...
Forest harvesting practices can expose mineral soils, decrease infiltration capacities of soils, disturb the stream bank and channel, and increase erosion and fine sediment supply to stream channels. To reduce nonpoint source sediment pollution associated with forest management activities and to maintain the high water quality typically provided from forests,...
This dataset includes the datasets of suspended sediment concentration and environmental variables used to model stream metabolism, and the modeled stream metabolism results for two streams. For more information, see Cargill, SK (2019). The Influence of Lithology on Stream Metabolism in Mountain Systems. MS Thesis, Oregon State University.
A log step develops when large woody debris extends across the active
channel, creating a change in the water surface elevation as the stream
spills over the log step. By forming a series of vertical falls, log
steps reduce the amount of potential energy available for conversion to
kinetic energy...
Stream-restoration projects are usually designed to improve habitat quality for fishes.
These projects manipulate flow patterns, substrate distribution, and amount and
placement of large woody debris. Consequently, they also affect the size and composition
of the aquatic macroinvertebrate community. This research evaluates two types of fish
habitat restoration: off-channel structures...