Riparian Habitat Assesment

RHA Scores

Epifaunal Substrate - For this section I scored it a 9 because there is a decent amount of logs and coverage, but not any cobble or more than 40% of places for stable habitat. 

Embeddedness - I gave embeddedness a 3 because there isn't any cobble or boulder and the bottom of the stream is almost entirely sandy mud and fine sediment. 

Velocity/Depth Regime - Out of the 4 velocity/depth regimes my stream has about 2 present (slow and shallow, and moderately faster and shallow) so I scored this section a 7.  

Sediment Deposition - I scored this an 8 because the sand on the bottom accumulates at the fallen logs in the stream and it seems to move okay throughout. 

Channel Flow Status - I gave the channel flow status an 8 because I think the stream fills about 50% of the available channel. 

Channel Alteration - I scored this an 8 also because there's a decent amount of movement over time and lots of human impacts around this stream.

Frequency of Riffles - I gave this a 4 because the water is pretty slow but further upstream there are small riffles over some logs. 

Bank Stability - The banks are almost entirely sand so they aren't very stable and even slide a bit when you step on them. I gave the right bank a 4 and the left bank a 5 because it has more vegetation so it is slightly more stable.

Vegetative Protection - I scored the left bank a 6 and the right bank a 5 because the left has many trees and ferns consistently up and downstream and the right bank is near the trail so it has gaps with no vegetation. 

Riparian Vegetative Zone - I scored both banks a 2 because there's a bridge going across the stream to another trail. 

Sketches

Images