INTERDISCIPLINARY OVERVIEW OF GRAVEL REMOVAL 

 E. H. Follmann^ 



INTRODUCTION 



This chapter presents a general overview of the effects of gravel 

 removal in contrast to the preceding disciplinary chapters that rely more 

 heavily on analytical treatments of data collected at the 25 study sites. 

 Each of the Major Variables identified in the Matrix (Table I) is discussed 

 relative to its influence on the effects of a gravel removal operation. 

 These characteristics directed the early phases of the study, including the 

 site investigations, and form, for the most part, the framework of the 

 gravel removal guidelines. The disciplinary chapters on gravel removal 

 effects did not necessarily treat each of these characteristics because some 

 were not relevant or they did not influence the evaluations or syntheses 

 sufficiently to warrant individual attention. Thus, this overview chapter 

 constitutes the functional bridge between the Guidelines Manual and the 

 Technical Report. 



Few problems were encountered in the discussion of the Physical Site 

 Characteristics and their interaction with gravel removal projects because 

 the categories are mutual ly discrete, i.e., a river cannot be both meander- 

 ing and straight within the study reach. The categories under each of the 

 Gravel Removal Area Characteristics, however, are not mutually exclusive 

 and, thus, cause difficulty in the development of that discussion. The sites 

 selected encompassed at least several individual locations from which gravel 



E. H. Follmann is presently associated with the Institute of Arctic 

 Biology of the University of Alaska. 



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