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Channel and Perennial Flow Initiation in Headwater Streams: Management Implications of Variability in Source-Area Size

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Abstract

Despite increasing attention to management of headwater streams as sources of water, sediment, and wood to downstream rivers, the extent of headwater channels and perennial flow remain poorly known and inaccurately depicted on topographic maps and in digital hydrographic data. This study reports field mapping of channel head and perennial flow initiation locations in forested landscapes underlain by sandstone and basalt lithologies in Washington State, USA. Contributing source areas were delineated for each feature using a digital elevation model (DEM) as well as a Global Positioning System device in the field. Systematic source area–slope relationships described in other landscapes were not evident for channel heads in either lithology. In addition, substantial variability in DEM-derived source area sizes relative to field-delineated source areas indicates that in this area, identification of an area–slope relationship, should one even exist, would be difficult. However, channel heads and stream heads, here defined as the start of perennial flow, appear to be co-located within both of the lithologies, which together with lateral expansion and contraction of surface water around channel heads on a seasonal cycle in the basalt lithology, suggest a controlling influence of bedrock springs for that location. While management strategies for determining locations of channel heads and perennial flow initiation in comparable areas could assign standard source area sizes based on limited field data collection within that landscape, field-mapped source areas that support perennial flow are much smaller than recognized by current Washington State regulations.

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Acknowledgments

The Washington Department of Natural Resources provided funding for this project. The authors would like to thank Ellen Wohl for reviewing earlier drafts, and also appreciate the comments of C.R. Jackson and Brian Nerbonne.

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Author notes

  1. Kristin L. Jaeger

    Present address: Department of Geosciences, Colorado State University, 322 Natural Resources Building, Fort Collins, CO, 80523, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Forest Resources, University of Washington, P.O. Box 352100, Seattle, WA, 98195-2100, USA

    Kristin L. Jaeger

  2. Earth & Space Sciences, University of Washington, P.O. Box 351310, Seattle, WA, 98195-1310, USA

    David R. Montgomery

  3. College of Forest Resources, University of Washington, P.O. Box 352100, Seattle, WA, 98195-2100, USA

    Susan M. Bolton

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  1. Kristin L. Jaeger
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Correspondence to Kristin L. Jaeger.

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Jaeger, K.L., Montgomery, D.R. & Bolton, S.M. Channel and Perennial Flow Initiation in Headwater Streams: Management Implications of Variability in Source-Area Size. Environmental Management 40, 775–786 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-005-0311-2

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