Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program: Utah
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

Utah Project


CPCESU San Rafael Restoration Science

September 2012 - September 2017


Personnel

Participating Agencies

  • Bureau of Land Management

Persistence of many desert river species is threatened by a suite of impacts linked to water infrastructure projects that provide human water security where water is scarce. Many desert rivers have undergone regime shifts from spatially and temporally dynamic ecosystems to more stable systems dominated by homogenous physical habitat. Restoration of desert river systems could aid in biodiversity conservation, but poses formidable challenges due to multiple threats and the infeasibility of recovery to pre-development conditions. The challenges faced in restoring desert rivers can be addressed by incorporating scientific recommendations into restoration planning efforts at multiple stages, as demonstrated here through an example restoration project. In particular, use of a watershed-scale planning process can identify data gaps and irreversible constraints, which aid in developing achievable restoration goals and objectives. Site prioritization focuses limited resources for restoration on areas with the greatest potential to improve populations of target organisms. Investment in research to understand causes of degradation, coupled with adoption of a guiding vision is critical for identifying feasible restoration actions that can enhance river processes. Setting monitoring as a project goal, developing hypotheses for expected outcomes, and implementing restoration as an experimental design will facilitate adaptive management and learning from project implementation. Involvement of scientists and managers during all planning stages is critical for developing process-based restoration actions and an implementation plan to maximize learning. The planning process developed here provides a roadmap for use of scientific recommendations in future efforts to recover dynamic processes in imperiled riverine ecosystems.

Presentations Presentation Date
Laub, B. G., J. Jimenez, and P. Budy. 2014. Restoration and monitoring plan for native fish and riparian vegetation on the San Rafael River, Utah. 2014 Spring Runoff Conference, 1-2 April, 2014, Logan, Utah, USA. April 2014
Laub, B., P. Budy, and J. Jiminez. 2013. Synthesizing population dynamics of native fish species and geomorphic analyses of channel change to guide restoration planning on the San Rafael River, Utah. Oral presentation at Utah Chapter of American Fisheries Society meeting, Wahweap Marina, UT-AZ, 26 - 28 March 2013. March 2013
Laub, B.G., P. Budy, J.Jimenez. 2013. Restoration of the San Rafael River and riparian corridor in southern Utah. Society of Wetland Scientists Annual Meeting, June 2-6, 2013, Duluth, Minnesota. June 2013