National Stream & Aquatic Ecology Center - Bedload Traps

Bedload Traps

Between 1997 and 2015, the National Stream and Aquatic Ecology Center collaborated with Colorado State University scientists in collecting detailed bedload samples for 14 studies on national forests in Colorado, Wyoming, and Oregon. This unique and valuable bedload dataset quantifies sediment transport dynamics of gravel bedload over a wide range of channel characteristics and discharges during snowmelt runoff. The data were collected using the novel bedload trap sampler device; a large, unflared sampler that was specifically developed to obtain representative samples of gravel bedload in mountain streams.

Learn more about:

• The specifications for designing and using bedload traps to collect bedload data.

• A database synthesizing bedload data based on bedload trap measurements from 14 studies.