HR: 0800h
AN: H41A-0122 [Abstracts]
TI: Engineered Logjam Technology: A decade of application and development of science based design guidelines.
AU: * Abbe, T
EM: tabbe@entrix.com
AF: Entrix Environmental Consultants, 2701 First Ave
Suite 500, Seattle, WA 98121, United States
AB:
Over 11 years ago the first engineered logjams (ELJs) were constructed in the Upper Cowlitz River (Abbe et al
1997). Nine years ago, the North Fork Stillaguamish River project was presented at the 1998 AGU Fall Meeting
(Abbe et al 1998). Over the last decade, tribes, governmental agencies, private land owners and non-profit
organizations have used ELJs to restore river habitat, limit channel incision, and provide bank protection for
property and infrastructure. ELJs have been constructed throughout the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, California and
as far away as New South Wales, Australia. The development of ELJ technology was founded on the premise of
applying scientific methods to: (1) assess project sites (e.g, hydrology, hydraulics, sediment, vegetation, channel
dynamics), (2) understand the mechanics of wood debris, (3) emulate natural processes and forms, (4) adapt
solutions to situations constrained by human development (e.g., channelization, flow regulation) and (5) educate
human communities about fluvial systems (e.g., address real and perceived views about wood debris and fluvial
systems, considering direct and indirect effects on property and public safety). The case for a scientific standard
of practice is supported by the successful performance of ELJ projects that employed a scientific analysis of site
conditions, structure stability and the hydraulic and channel response to proposed structures. ELJ structures
have successfully survived 100-yr flood events; delivered measurable increases in the amount of aquatic habitat,
periphyton and invertebrate populations, and floodplain connectivity; created preferential habitat for juvenile
salmon; and provided effective bank protection. I summarize the physical performance of several ELJ projects
built from 1996 to 2006 and present a general scientific standard of practice for ELJ technology and wood debris
management.
DE: 0481 Restoration
DE: 0744 Rivers (0483, 1856)
DE: 1825 Geomorphology: fluvial (1625)
SC: Hydrology [H]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting