The Great Basin Ecosystem Management Project for Restoring and Maintaining Watersheds and Riparian Ecosystems

Individual Studies

GBEM-Team Leader

   -Jeanne Chambers

The Book

   -Great Basin Riparian Ecosystems

GBEM-Field Tour

Employment

GWERD Riparian Restoration

GWERD in the Great Basin

Streams and riparian areas in the Great Basin provide critical ecosystem services including an adequate supply of high quality water, habitat for a diverse array of aquatic and terrestrial organisms, forage and browse for native herbivores and livestock, and recreational opportunities.  Many of the stream systems are incised (downcut) and the riparian areas are often severely degraded compromising their capacity to supply these services. In 1993, an ecosystem management project was initiated by the USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station to increase understanding of the structure and functioning of Great Basin watersheds and riparian areas and to develop methods for maintaining or restoring ecosystem sustainability.  The emphasis is on integrated studies of the abiotic and biotic components of the systems conducted at multiple spatial scales, including the watershed, riparian corridor, valley segment, and stream reach.  The project is unique in that time scales include the mid-late Holocene (last 8000 years), post-settlement period (1860 to present), and present (up to ten-years ago).  The interdisciplinary research team is addressing several objectives:

1. Reconstruct the vegetation and geomorphic history of Great Basin watersheds

2. Determine the underlying geomorphic and hydrologic processes that characterize the watersheds and riparian areas, and evaluate the effects of both past and present climate change and anthropogenic disturbance on these processes

3. Evaluate the sensitivity of the study watersheds to both natural and anthropogenic disturbance, and develop a model of watershed sensitivity for managing riparian ecosystems

4. Examine the effects of watershed geologic characteristics and natural and anthropogenic disturbance on flow regimes and water quality; (5) Determine relationships among riparian vegetation, hydrogeomorphic processes, and basin sensitivity to disturbance

5. Use our understanding of past and present ecosystem processes to develop guidelines and techniques for restoring and maintaining sustainable riparian areas.

The results of the initial 10-years of the project were published in 2004 by Island Press as a Society for Ecological Restoration publication: Chambers, J. C. and J. R. Miller. 2004. Great Basin Riparian Ecosystems:  Ecology, Management, and Restoration. Island Press, Covelo, CA. 303 pages.  The process-based information linking climate history, geology, hydrology, and ecology has broad-scale implications for the management of these ecosystems.  The specific information obtained on central Great Basin riparian ecosystems is being used to prioritize stream and riparian area restoration efforts, and to test methods for both stream stabilization and riparian ecosystem restoration.

Locations of intensive meadow sampling

Kingston meadow restoration photos

Kingston meadow structure photos

Miscellaneous Kingston meadow photos

Indian Creek headcut photos

Researchers:

Jeanne C. Chambers, Robin J. Tausch, and Michael C. Amacher-USDA Forest Service, RMRS
Dave Jewett-EPA, GWERD
Jerry Miller, Mark Lord-Western Carolina University
Dru Germanoski-Dept. Geology and Environmental Geosciences, Lafayette College
Erica Fleishman-Center for Conservation Biology, Stanford University
Greg Baker-University of Tennessee
Sudeep Chandra, Tom Dudley, Wendy Trowbridge-University of Nevada, Reno
Jim Bergman, Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest

Contact: 

Jeanne C. Chambers

jchambers@fs.fed.us

775.784.5329