Review and Synopsis of Natural and Human Controls on Fluvial Channel Processes in the Arid West

Abstract : Parallel to ongoing efforts to revise the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers wetland delineation manual for support of Section 404 under the Clean Water Act, the Corps has initiated an effort to develop an "Ordinary High Water" (OHW) delineation manual. The Arid West region is dominated by watersheds with intermittent and ephemeral dry washes. Consequently, many aquatic resources lack the three characteristic features of a wetland, but they still perform important wetland functions. Arid West channels have recently been described as "ordinary" when they typically correspond to a 5- to 8-year event and typically have an active floodplain with sparse vegetation cover, shifts in soil texture, and occasional alignment with distinctive bed and bank features. With a better understanding of the stream dynamics associated with regulated ordinary events, the Corps is now developing OHW functional models for intermittent and ephemeral stream channels of the Arid West. It cannot be adequately determined if a channel has been altered by human disturbances without an understanding of how channels naturally respond to geomorphically effective events and evolve through time. This report provides a literature review of natural and human controls on fluvial processes in the Arid West.

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