Overview

Welcome to the resource page for the Low-tech Process-based Restoration (LTPBR) Design Class. We will post information and resources here to help you develop a LTPBR design. Below are descriptions and links to:

Schedule & Logistics
Report Content & Style
Examples of Planning and Design Reports
Analysis tools
GIS Resources
QGIS video tutorials
Example Monitoring Protocols and Apps
Examples of Permit Applications
Examples of Adaptive Management Plans

Schedule & Logistics

Refer to this schedule for class, assignment, and field trip dates.

Report Content and Style

For the final report, we expect:

Update Phase 1 of your Planning Report if you took the Planning Class (5622). Note the report outline has been revised.
Clear writing, a clear thought process, and proper use of citations (i.e. use Zotero, Mendeley, etc.)
Clear figures with full captions (if reusing or adapting figures, cite properly)
Consistent and effective maps (whether done in ArcGIS, QGIS, by hand, Google Earth, etc.).
Submit as a word document.

Use this revised Report Outline to develop your report

**Provide any additional analyses you deem necessary

Examples of Low-tech Process-based Restoration Planning and Design Documents

Analysis Tools

Stream Stats
USDA Web Soil Survey
USGS GIS web application (like QGIS, but online)
USGS topoBuilder (create custom topographic maps on demand)

Video refresher on identifying geomorphic units (Module 3E. Risk Assessment, Condition Assessment, & Recovery Potential)

GIS Resources

Descriptions and Links to Mapping and Geoanalysis Resources

** The riverscape resources can be viewed in Arc GIS 10.x or QGIS. Here are descriptions of the resources and instructions on how to load them into Arc or QGIS.

Riverscape Context Tool - a tool that aggregates contextual layers for consumption in other Riverscapes projects. Many Riverscapes tools use nationally available datasets that have to be retrieved from various sources and prepared for an area of interest. This process can be time-consuming, and often the data have to be further processed after retrieving them (for example, a mosaic of DEM tiles, clipping to watershed boundaries, etc.), and these processes can introduce problems to the datasets.
Beaver Restoration Assessment Tool Links to an external site.(BRAT) - a planning tool intended to help researchers, restoration practitioners, and resource managers assess the potential for beaver as a stream conservation and restoration agent over large regions and watersheds.
- for advanced users, the python script and documentation are available on github.

The Riparian Condition Assessment Toolbox (RCAT) - a suite of stream network assessment tools. These tools are designed to delineate valley bottoms, assess riparian vegetation, evaluate floodplain conditions, and estimate the recovery potential of riparian areas. These tools are intended to help researchers and managers assess the riparian condition and recovery potential over large regions and watersheds. These network models were first developed and implemented across the Colorado Plateau Ecoregion and the state of Utah (see Utah Implementation page). The models are now being run for the Interior Columbia River Basin (see Columbia River Basin Implementation page). The R-CAT models can be run with nationally available existing GIS datasets or high-resolution landcover and DEM datasets. The stream network models consist of the following:
- Riparian Vegetation Departure (RVD) tool
- Riparian Condition Assessment (RCA) tool
- Riparian Recovery Potential (RRP) tool
Valley Bottom Extraction Tool (VBET) - a tool used to identify the valley bottom of a riverscape, and roughly separate it into geomorphic units (channel, active floodplain, and inactive floodplain). Outputs are available through the Riverscapes Warehouse Links to an external site. for certain HUC-8 watersheds. For advanced users, the python script and documentation are available on github.

Links to an external s

Links to an external site.

Terrain Analysis Using Digital Elevation Models (TauDEM) - a suite of tools developed by David Tarboton at Utah State University’s Hydrology Research Group. The Riverscapes compliant, Production Grade TauDEM, utilizes some of the useful TauDEM algorithms, packaging inputs and outputs into a Riverscapes project that can be accessed as a product of its own, or used as inputs to other Riverscapes tools. Riverscapes TauDEM projects take an input DEM and a channel and produce the following outputs using TauDEM algorithms:
- Pit-filled DEM
- D-infinity flow direction raster
- D-infinity contributing area raster
- Topographic Wetness Index (TWI)
- Height Above Nearest Drainage (HAND) raster
- D-infinity slope raster (percent)
- Additionally, produces a D-8 slope raster (degrees) using GDAL.

The Channel Area Tool - a simple tool for generating polygons representing the spatial extent of the drainage network within a watershed. The primary purpose of the tool is that the outputs it produces are used as inputs in other Riverscapes tools. Geospatial tools often use a simple line network to represent streams. Depending on the functions a tool is performing, this can be problematic as a line can represent both a narrow, first-order stream as well as large, wide rivers. Many Riverscapes tools analyze areas outside of the channel (for example, to look at streamside vegetation), therefore an accurate representation of the actual channel, not simply a line, is necessary.
- The tool is comprised of a simple algorithm for combining polygons representing channels with polygons derived from attributes on a drainage network (line). As long as a drainage network has an attribute recording the upstream contributing drainage area for each segment, regional relationships relating channel width to drainage area can be used to buffer the channel segments, and the resulting polygons can be merged with any other available polygons.
- This gives a first-order approximation of the active channel area. As channels are active and constantly moving through time, greater accuracy can be achieved with more recent, high-resolution datasets, or with user input (e.g., editing channel positions or channel polygons).

Riverscapes Analysis Visualization Explorer Links to an external site.(RAVE) - helps you make maps of rivers. RAVE speeds up the process of adding data related to rivers into your preferred GIS with meaningful layer order and symbology.

QGIS Help

PLANNING, DESIGNING, AND MONITORING TOOLS

EXAMPLES OF PERMITTING APPLICATIONS and STATE MEMOs

EXAMPLES OF ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT PLANS

LTPBR LITERATURE