Water Resources Collections and Archives

Sausal Creek drains an urban watershed in the City of Oakland, California. In 2001, a portion of the creek was restored within Dimond Canyon, in part to create a stable channel profile, control erosion, and limit flood damage. Subsequent monitoring efforts to evaluate the effectiveness of the restoration project have been limited by inconsistent monitoring locations and methods. In this study, we investigated how channel morphology has changed within the creek since the 2001 as-built surveys and the fall 2005 post-project appraisal. We conducted cross-section surveys at eleven locations along the restoration project and found that channel morphology has not changed significantly since project implementation. However, we documented some channel scouring, which has decreased bed elevations and widened the channel along portions of the restored reach. To allow for repeatable future monitoring at the site, we installed durable markers at each of the surveyed cross-section locations.