UCCE Rangeland Watershed Fact Sheet No. 23

	Fact Sheet No. 23: Stream/Watercourse Site Evaluation¹

RANCH NAME_______________________________________	QUARTER SECTION_________________
STREAM NAME OR DESCRIPTION_________________________________________________________
LOCATION/WITNESS POINTS______________________________________________________________
PHOTO STATION: _____ Perpendicular	_____ Oblique to stream
STREAM TYPE: _____ Perennial/year around	_____ Intermittent/seasonal

CURRENT PRECIPITATION YEAR: _____ Wet _____ Normal _____ Dry

CHANNEL TYPE/PATTERN:

a. _____ Deeply entrenched _____ Moderately entrenched _____ Slightly entrenched

b. _____ Well confined _____ Moderately confined _____ Poor/no confinement

c. _____ Straight/slightly sinuous _____ Meandering or braided

STREAM GRADIENT: _____ Steep (over 10%) _____ Moderate (4-10%) _____ Gentle (<4%)

STREAM WIDTH/DEPTH RATIO: __________

PREDOMINANT STREAMBANK CONDITIONS (% stability):

_____	Stable (<5% degradation): armored with rock/vegetation/roots/overhang/no headcuts/little impact of high flow or access traffic.
_____	Some instability (5-25% degradation): occasional sloughing/erosion/exposure to bare soil/strata/ evidence of travel impacts.
_____	Significant instability (>25% degradation): frequent sloughing/exposed soil/headcuts/chiselling compaction by vehicles, livestock, or people.

VEGETATION:

_____	Typical riparian perennial water-loving species dominating; bottomland/alluvial or upland perennial watercourse.
_____	Riparian herbaceous and woody species infrequent; upland foothill intermittent watercourse.
_____	Principal watercourse/stream flood plain cover:

	0-25%	25-50%	50-75%	75-100%
Trees - canopy	_______	_______	_______	_______
Shrubs - canopy	_______	_______	_______	_______
Herbaceous - canopy	_______	_______	_______	_______

Major Species _______________________________________________________________________

Watercourse residual/mulch/plant cover filter strip function: _____ High _____ Moderate _____ Low

Utilization of riparian vegetation: _____ None _____ Light _____ Moderate _____ Heavy

Grazing or browsing by: _____ Livestock or _____ Wildlife

WATER TURBIDITY/CONDITION: (period since last storm: _____ <2 days _____>2 days)

_____	Clear or very slightly turbid/muddy: bottom objects clearly visible to depths of up to 3 feet.
_____	Considerable/moderate turbidity: objects visible to only about 1½ to 3 feet depth.
_____	Very turbid/muddy/sediment-loaded: objects not visible at more that ½ to 1½ feet depth.

WATER TEMPERATURE: _____ Cold (<50%) _____ Cool (50 to 70%) _____ Warm (>70%)

CHANNEL BOTTOM CONDITION:

_____	No evidence of recent bed material movement/deltas/sediment bars/scouring; pools free from deposition.
_____	Some or few fine gravel/sand/silt bars/deltas present and without vegetation cover.
_____	Abundant evidence of erosion and/or deposition; sediment bars/deltas present and unvegetated; pools silted.

_____ % bedrock _____% gravel _____% sediment

AQUATIC BIOLOGY (Riparian, perennial streams, or pools)

	Abundant/Diverse	Some/Few	None
Fish	_______________	_________	______
Amphibians	_______________	_________	______
Insects	_______________	_________	______
Emergent Plants	_______________	_________	______
Algae	_______________	_________	______

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:	________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________

MANAGEMENT ACTIONS

_____	Changes in management are not justified.
_____	Further examination of watershed is needed.
_____	Request visitations and advice by resource specialist.
_____	Consider prompt changes in kind, degree, time of land use.
_____	Develop water quality management plan or element of ranch management plan.

prepared by John Stechman, UC Cooperative Extension, USDA Morro Bay Hydrologic Unit Area Project, and Jim Clawson, Extension Range Specialist, Agronomy & Range Science, University of California, Davis.

¹To be used with individual streams or stream reaches.

prepared and edited for the Web by John Harper, Ken Tate and Mel George

Fact Sheet No. 23: Stream/Watercourse Site Evaluation1

Fact Sheet No. 23:
Stream/Watercourse Site Evaluation¹