ARaUTLS^TRFAMS. 



What's Your Stream's Personality? 



Tlwse characteristics determine many stream 

 types, each with its own "personality. " 



1 What's the most common 

 material making up the 

 channel and hank? 



Silt/Clay smooth 

 betioeen fingers 



Channel and bank 

 materials are 

 critical character- 

 istics of a stream. 



Sand feels gritty 



They determine: 



• sensitivity to 

 disturbance and 

 potential 

 for erosion 



Grawel fits in hand 



CoBBl,F 



Boulder 



recovery 

 potential 



ability to support 

 vegetation 



• role of vegetation 

 in stabilizing 

 stream channels 



• amount of 

 channel 

 roughness to 

 slow stream flow 

 and reduce 

 stream 



energy 



Bedrock 



Otiier important stream 

 characteristics not 

 illustrated here: 



6 Flow timing and 

 amount 



7 Amount and size 

 of sediment 



By understanding tfie combination of cImracterisHcs that 

 make up your stream's personality, you can determine 

 appropriate management practices. Changing any of these 

 characteristics without careful planning can cause unwanted 

 changes in the stream (see pages 14-17 and 22-30) . 



Channel and bank 

 materials 



Sinuosity 



Channel gradient 



Floodplain 



Channel shape 



2 



How sinuous is the channel? 



Sinuosity refers to the amount of curvature 

 in a stream channel. The increased length of 

 a highly sinuous channel helps to dissipate 

 stream energy. Shorter and straighter channels 

 possess more stream energy and erosion 



potential. 



highly sinuous 

 straight slightly sinuous (meandering) 



you may have to 

 climb over 



3 



What is the gradient of the channel? 



The steeper the channel gradient, the greater 

 the water velocity and potential for erosion. 



less than 2% 



