Riparian Restoration
CHAPTER 4: RESTORATION PREPERATION (CONTINUED)
Project Design
After studying campgrounds, Orr (1971) found that “design is the second most important variable in relation to site deterioration” (Manning 1979). The design is based on the data gathered and on internal and external influences (social factors). Recreation use planning is an integral part of site design. When a recreation facility is planned, habitat fragments are likely to be created. The ID team must understand the habitat needs of the resident and migratory wildlife and eliminate as many fragments as possible from the design. The team should consider relocating a facility out of the riparian ecosystem and providing planned access routes to the water and other attractions.
While recognizing that each restoration project is unique, the team should adhere to certain design principles:
- Design facilities
to balance the benefits of access against the effects they will have on
riparian processes;
that is, structure and function.
- Use soil-survey information to help
site recreation facilities on soils that are likely to be less susceptible
to compaction
and
erosion and more productive and stable (Manning 1979).
- Use good design to substantially reduce and eliminate deterioration of ground cover and other plant life (function) on new or recovered sites. Install barriers and hardened or mulched paths, delineate camp and picnic sites, and install signs to indicate where forest visitors should or should not go and interpretive signs that explain why. See figures 52 and 53.
- Leave native vegetation, whether alive or dead and down, on the site.
- Lessen negative impacts to the restoration site by addressing management
and restoration of upslope and adjacent areas of influence.
- Consider fencing off a site, which is sometimes the best and most efficient restoration solution. See figure 54. Yosemite averages 90 to 95 percent compliance in keeping visitors out of restoration sites by using fences and informational signs. (See appendix E.) Fence installations encourage compliance. Cutting corners off potential restoration areas so that visitors can see their destination from the path encourages them to stay on the trails. (Fritzke 2001). See figure 55.
- Be aware of the hydrologic connections on the site and the effect that grade changes may have on them, and ultimately on the riparian ecosystem. For example, be sure flood plains remain functional. See figures 56 and 57.
Figure 52—A hard surface defines this accessible camping unit.
Figure 53—Path is defined by a low fence and is covered in mulch.
It
is accessible and
the mulch protects the soil.
Figure 54—The fence blends with the forest, allowing views of the
lake
while
protecting the riparian vegetation.
Figure 55—Restoration site with trail.
Figure 56—Cedars are very sensitive to hydrological changes. The
cedars
(at
right foreground) died because of the road construction and
because
the
subsequent
compaction and settling of the roadbed
changed
the
hydrologic
regime. The
water became impounded around
the
cedars and
they drowned.
Their deaths further
impacted cedar
regeneration because increased
deer browsing makes regeneration
difficult, if not impossible.
Figure 57—Drainage patterns changed when a road was built across this meadow.
The water can drain through only a few culverts, which concentrates the
outflow
and
causes down cutting that has lead to an incised stream.
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