Recently, extensive private and institutional efforts have been directed towards innovative approaches to simultaneously improving conditions for producers, riparian vegetation communities, and aquatic ecosystems in the Sprague River Valley (south-central Oregon). Many of these efforts center upon changing management of the riparian corridor along 100+ miles of river in the Sprague Valley.

In low-gradient systems like the Sprague River, roots of riparian vegetation maintain the integrity of banks and bank-building process, and thus regulate the shape (width, depth, cross-sectional and plan-form morphology) of the river channel.

Riparian vegetation can also exert powerful influences on water temperature and nutrient dynamics. Channel shape, water temperature, and nutrients regulate the conditions for fish and other important aquatic resources. Integrity of the river channel can also affect floodplain groundwater levels, which in turn influences plant production and baseflows.

Incidental observations of different projects done in the Sprague Valley over the past decade suggest a wide range of riparian responses to management change, yet no adequate monitoring has been done to describe how riparian communities and/or channel morphology have responded to various management changes.

Landowners, managers and restoration practitioners in the valley generally cannot plan projects with a reasonable expectation of a particular riparian and/or channel response, because the baseline monitoring data required to determine trend through time has not been implemented on a scale relevant to river function.

Understanding the riparian plant community and channel response to various management prescriptions will have significant practical repercussions in terms of planning, designing, and implementing management changes in the riparian corridor along the Sprague River.

Recently, extensive private and institutional efforts have been directed towards innovative approaches to simultaneously improving conditions for producers, riparian vegetation communities, and aquatic ecosystems in the Sprague River Valley (south-central Oregon). Many of these efforts center upon changing management of the riparian corridor along 100+ miles of river in the Sprague Valley. In low-gradient systems like the Sprague River, roots of riparian vegetation maintain the integrity of banks and bank-building process, and thus regulate the shape (width, depth, cross-sectional and plan-form morphology) of the river channel. Riparian vegetation can also exert powerful influences on water temperature and nutrient dynamics. Channel shape, water temperature, and nutrients regulate the conditions for fish and other important aquatic resources. Integrity of the river channel can also affect floodplain groundwater levels, which in turn influences plant production and baseflows.

Incidental observations of different projects done in the Sprague Valley over the past decade suggest a wide range of riparian responses to management change, yet no adequate monitoring has been done to describe how riparian communities and/or channel morphology have responded to various management changes. Landowners, managers and restoration practitioners in the valley generally cannot plan projects with a reasonable expectation of a particular riparian and/or channel response, because the baseline monitoring data required to determine trend through time has not been implemented on a scale relevant to river function. Understanding the riparian plant community and channel response to various management prescriptions will have significant practical repercussions in terms of planning, designing, and implementing management changes in the riparian corridor along the Sprague River.

In order to determine the current condition, potential and/or capability of the Sprague River the Natural Resource Conservation Service funded the first component of this project to address the following objectives:

1. To determine if a riparian wetland vegetation community type classification could be developed for the Sprague River system.
2. To assess the general physiographic, edaphic, and floristic features of the lower Sprague River system.
3. To describe the fluvial landform and stream channel type associated with the current greenline vegetation.
4. To establish an appropriate number of greenline and channel cross-sections for the purpose of creating a trend monitoring network.