Water Resources Collections and Archives

Redwood Creek is located in Sonoma County, California.  Redwood Creek is a tributary of Maacama Creek, a tributary to the Russian River.  The reach of Redwood Creek addressed in this study is on an alluvial fan.  In summer of 2001 the California Department of Fish and Game conducted a stream inventory to determine the presence of anadromous fish in the watershed and recommended Redwood Creek be managed as an anadromous, natural production stream.  Two restoration projects have been completed in recent years, the first in 2005 and the second in 2010.  In this study we investigated the newly constructed reach to determine how the channel morphology has responded after the first water year.  We conducted cross-sectional surveys  at 4 locations along the restoration project.  Survey results show that vertical channel adjustment is occurring, and that the channel is still in the process of finding geomorphic equilibrium.  It is likely that the channel will continue to adjust in future storm events.  Cross-section monitoring should proceed into the future to determine whether channel adjustments continue, and as a basis to determine the need for adaptive management.