Sagehen Courses...

Codornices Creek	Cold Creek	Redwood Creek

Why take this course?

River restoration has become big business in the US, with well over $17b spent on over 40 thousand projects since 1990.

Despite strong public support and the magnitude of the investment, the field has not advanced as quickly as one might expect, because learning through post-project evaluation is rare, and insights from current research are often not effectively incorporated in planning and design. Not surprisingly, many restoration projects are ecologically ineffective or have washed out, although the extent of failure is hidden by the lack of post project evaluation.

River restoration can be more effective when it is designed with an understanding of processes and the larger context, when it benefits from systematic learning from previous built projects, and when it is based on predictive connections between objectives and actions.

 This shortcourse emphasizes sustainable river restoration through:

• Understanding geomorphic and ecological processes in rivers.
• Watershed-scale and longer-time scale context.
• Incorporating insights from recent research in fluvial geomorphology and ecology.
• Developing predictive connections between objectives and actions.
• Analyses of effectiveness of built restoration projects.
• Strategies to restore (where possible) physical and ecological processes in rivers.
• Setting goals in the context of a continuum from urban-to-wilderness settings.
• Developing restoration strategies and innovative management approaches based on understanding of underlying causes of channel or ecosystem change, rather than prescriptive approaches.
• Knowing when to intervene and when the river can heal itself without meddling.

Who should take this course?

The course is ideal for anyone responsible for managing and restoring rivers and streams, including those who have previously taken shortcourses in the field, as this course offers insights and approaches unlike those typically taken in many restoration projects today.

Practitioners and agency staff responsible for reviewing restoration proposals will benefit from the high caliber of instruction and direct link to current research. This course is a good choice for those seeking an understanding of process-based river restoration in contrast to the form-based projects commonly implemented. And this course is unique in offering the opportunity to learn from such an extensive and growing data set of post-project appraisals of restoration projects, and to learn how to conduct effective post-project monitoring.

The number of participants is limited to 28 to provide opportunities for one-on-one instruction.

The course balances lecture with field observation and discussion.

This course consists of organized lectures, backed by lecture notes, a reference text on measurement and analysis methods in fluvial geomorphology, spreadsheets, and other relevant reading, field trips, exercises, and discussions.

The course includes several field trips to rivers and streams in the Lake Tahoe Basin, the nearby Sierra Nevada range, and Truckee River with their spectacular mountain scenery, diverse fluvial environments, and range of human impacts (and their often very visible consequences). The course includes workshops on geomorphic river restoration problems faced by participants, who briefly present the problem for discussion by instructors and colleagues in a workshop format, for discussion and ideas on analytical approaches and resources.

The overall content of the course will be similar to the successful offerings of previous years, with adaptations to the new environment that will be updated on the website and in course information as it develops.

Syllabus for 2009 course [Word doc - 25KB].
 

Photos from 2006 Summer Shortcourse in Lake Tahoe, California:

The course instructors.

Principal instructors:

Matt Kondolf, Professor of Environmental Planning and Geography at UC Berkeley, with experience in planning and evaluating river restoration, sediment management in regulated rivers, and habitat needs for spawning by salmon and trout.
Peter Wilcock, Professor of Geography and Environmental Engineering at Johns Hopkins University, authority on sediment transport and integration of fluvial geomorphic analyses in river restoration design and planning, leader of the Stream Restoration program at the National Center of Earth-Surface Dynamics.
Sarah Kupferberg, a stream ecologist affiliated with the UC Berkeley Dept. of Integrative Biology and Questa Engineering, is an authority on river-breeding amphibians, and has studied effects of flow regulation and geomorphic change on populations downstream of hydroelectric dams.
Desiree Tullos, Assistant Professor of Ecological Engineering, Oregon State University, a leading researcher on interactions of hydrology, water quality, and ecology in river restoration, and developing strategies to assess and minimize environmental impacts of dams, notably in China.
Don Erman, Professor of Ecology at University of California Berkeley and Davis (retired) conducted numerous influential studies of aquatic ecology on Sagehen Creek through the 1980s and 1990s, including studies with Ned Andrews (USGS) linking geomorphic processes with aquatic ecology.
Mitch Swanson, president of Swanson Hydrology and Geomorphology, a leading designer of stream restoration projects, who has conducted analyses of stream processes and implemented successful stream and meadow restoration projects throughout the Lake Tahoe basin, the Russian River, and elsewhere.
Scott McBain, principal of McBain and Trush, has led restoration efforts on large and small rivers in California and elsewhere in western North America, including the Trinity, San Joaquin, and Tuolumne, emphasizing restoration of geomorphic and ecological processes.

Other instructors:

Tom Taylor, fish ecologist, Entrix consultants
Dave Shaw, Balance Hydrologics, Truckee, stream gauging/sediment sampling/surveying
Ken Adams, geologist, Desert Research Institute, geologic context of Tahoe region
Jonathan Long, Lake Tahoe Science Center, Tahoe basin restoration overview
Matt Kiesse, River Run Consultants, historical analysis of Truckee River
Chad Gourley, Otis Bay Consultants, planning and design of restoration of Truckee River
Jim Litchfield, Fluid Concepts, design of Wingfield Park (Reno), other whitewater parks

Regular instructors not teaching this year:

Mary Power, Professor of Integrative Biology at UC Berkeley, well-known for her pioneering work on stream food webs, aquatic ecology, and implications for restoration planning.
Jack Schmidt, Utah State University: fluvial geomorphology, managing large western rivers.
Mark Tompkins, civil engineer and geomophologist with CH2MHill, has led major studies of sediment transport and channel geomorphology on the Klamath River and designed restoration projects on urban streams across the US, including Silver and Deer Creeks, California, Trinity River, Texas, and Four-Mile Run, Virginia.

Course details.

The course fee of $1,980 includes tuition, continuing education credits through UC Riverside Extension, field trip transportation, and course materials, including printed copies of lecture notes, CD with PDF files of additional papers and spreadsheets, and a copy of the reference work Tools in Fluvial Geomorphology. The course fee also includes three meals per day for five days, beginning Sunday dinner through Friday lunch, August 16-21, 2009.

Lodging.

Participants can make their own lodging arrangements among a choice of hotels in Truckee (about 10 mi south of Sagehen, near Hwy I-80) or can take advantage of comfortable, inexpensive accommodations on the beautiful grounds of the research station.  Lodging at the field station is $30/night per person, which entitles you to a bunk bed in a cabin with 6-8 beds, and clean, updated bathroom facilities.  You can stay in the bunk bed in the cabin or pitch your tent outside on the station grounds (and use the bunk to store gear if you wish).

Registration.

Mail the completed registration form [Word doc - 32KB] to:

Sagehen Creek Field Station
P.O. Box 939 / 11616 Sagehen Road
Truckee, CA 96160
Attn: Jeff Brown, Station Manager
Tel: 530-587-4830
E-mail: sagehen@berkeley.edu

Note: UPS and US Postal Service are most reliable for shipping to Sagehen.

For questions, please contact river.restoration.shortcourse@gmail.com.

Other Shortcourses Available from this Group.

Most of the material presented in the 5-day Sagehen shortcourse is presented in comparable ‘principles’ shortcourses, offered annually in Logan, Utah; Baltimore, Maryland; and Beaumont du Ventoux, France. 

These courses share many of the same instructors, and are designed to cover much the same material, although adapted to the specific environments in which the courses are offered; the Beaumont course also includes comparisons of restoration contexts and approaches in Europe and North America. 

Like the 5-day Sagehen (Tahoe) course, these assume a basic understanding of stream reach characterization. The advanced 4-day course in sediment transport calculations and channel design includes a full design problem, including hydraulic and sediment transport modeling, site layout, and riparian planting.  It is open to students who have completed any of the ‘principles’ shortcourses described here.