Name of Project: Cobble/Gravel Injection

Principal Investigator: Greg Pasternack

Project Motivation: Societal use of rivers is important to meet many human needs, but has come at the cost of significant degradation of rivers. Different people advocate for balancing the needs of the ecosystem and the potential of the human imagination for utilizing rivers at different levels for different rivers. We propose that in the case where a high level of human alteration to a river will be maintained, benefits to the ecosystem are possible through spawning habitat rehabilitation below dams.

Project Description: Experimental river rehabilitation projects are designed and implemented to improve instream habitat and mitigate against the impacts of dams. Students help plan the experiments in which thousands of tons of gravel and boulders are added to the river to re-shape it. Students monitor the physical and biological responses. Study results help improve future projects and answer basic scientific questions about how rivers work.

Research Sites: Lower Mokelumne River, Lower Yuba River, Trinity River

Project Duration: August 1999 to present

Project Sponsors: CALFED, US Bureau of Reclamation, US Fish and Wildlife Service, East Bay Municipal Utility District

Visit Project Website: http://pasternack.ucdavis.edu/research/projects/river-rehab/cobblegravel-injection/http://pasternack.ucdavis.edu/research/projects/river-rehab/cobblegravel-injection/

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