Russian River Watershed Projects

Clients: California Land Stewardship Institute
Locations: Russian River Watershed, California
Dates: 2012 to present

walls land+water has worked on several projects in the Russian River watershed for a variety of clients.

From 2012 to 2013 while at UC Berkeley, Mr. Walls worked as a graduate student researcher for the Russian River Independent Science Review Panel, and wrote his master's thesis on the streams in the basin. For the panel, Mr. Walls worked with a the panel of scientists, local farmers and land use managers, and 

In the thesis he proposes a geomorphically-based landscape-scale typology of stream channels in the Russian River basin to categorize dynamics of surface-groundwater interactions and the subsequent availability of instream habitat. The link between surface water, channel morphology, groundwater, and aquatic habitat are interrelated at many scales. Understanding and classifying surface-groundwater interactions is recognized as necessary to effectively and efficiently manage water resources for societal uses and aquatic ecosystems. He describes eight channel types, distinguished by substrate composition, geomorphic formation, and degree of confinement by bedrock.

To test the typology he collected available streamflow data for the basin, calculated various metrics, and draw relationships between results of the data analysis and the physical process-based diagrams.  The results show the typology can generally predict some characteristics of streamflow duration, but it should be coupled with further data collection to strengthen the usefulness. A case study of the complex interactions between tributaries and the mainstem is presented, demonstrating the effectiveness of a newly developed remote sensing technique. 

Most recently, Mr. Walls has installed a network of stream gages and staff plates on tributaries to the Russian River.