BIO-WEST conducted long-term stream channel, substrate, sediment-transport, and biological monitoring of the middle Provo River (from Jordanelle Dam to Deer Creek Dam) in support of the Utah Reclamation Mitigation and Conservation Commission’s Provo River Restoration Project (PRRP). The PRRP involves large-scale channel and floodplain reconstruction to improve aquatic and riparian habitat on a reach of the Provo River that was historically straightened and leveed.
Our monitoring activities included establishing permanent channel monitoring sites/transects within restored river reaches; annually surveying channel cross-sections and longitudinal profiles at the monitoring sites; annually mapping channel substrate composition; collecting bedload and suspended-sediment samples during the spring runoff period; collecting spring and fall macroinvertebrate samples to quantify change in species composition, density, and structure (i.e., habitat) associated with changes in flow patterns; and preparing annual reports. Recommendations for future monitoring and adaptive management measures to maximize the ecological benefits of the restoration work were also developed as part of this effort.