Diamond Fork and Sixth Water Creeks

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Diamond Fork and Sixth Water Creeks

Diamond Fork and Sixth Water Creeks Riparian Vegetation, Geomorphic, and Benthic Macroinvertebrate Monitoring

BIO-WEST is conducting long-term channel geomorphology, sediment transport, benthic macroinvertebrate, and riparian vegetation monitoring of Diamond Fork and Sixth Water Creeks. These two streams have been significantly altered by water imports from Strawberry Reservoir and the Central Utah Project. A pipeline was recently constructed to carry excess imported water (350 cfs) that was previously conveyed through the Diamond Fork and Sixth Water channels. The Utah Reclamation Mitigation and Conservation Commission (Mitigation Commission) is collecting data on how the stream and its riparian ecosystem adjust to the re-naturalized hydrology to help determine whether active channel restoration efforts will be necessary in the watershed.

Specific monitoring activities include:

•    establishing permanent channel monitoring sites/transects;

•   annually surveying channel cross-sections and longitudinal profiles at the monitoring sites;

•   annually mapping channel substrate composition;

•    collecting bedload and suspended sediment samples during spring runoff;

•   collecting spring and fall macroinvertebrate samples; and

•    mapping riparian vegetation including monitoring permanent transects across different floodplain surfaces to quantify change in species composition, density, structure (i.e., habitat) following implementation of the Diamond Fork System.

We are also monitoring populations of Ute Ladies'-tresses (Spiranthes diluvialis), an endangered orchid known to exist along Diamond Fork Creek. 2005-present.