Sediment Dispersion in Salmon Spawning Streams: The Influence of Floods and Salmon Redd Construction

The geomorphic relationships among forest practices, sediment transport, and aquatic habitat have been the focus of a large number of studies in the Pacific Northwest. Many studies have sought to understand the impacts of sedimentary disturbances, such as logging and associated road construction, on salmonid species (trout and salmon), their habitat, and their reproductive dynamics. The survival of many salmon populations depends greatly on the environmental conditions they encounter in their spawning streams.

This journal discusses the procedure where magnetically tagged particles were used to investigate the effects of sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) and floods on the dispersion of coarse bed material in the Stuart-Takla region, British Columbia, Canada.