West Tennessee River Degradation Photominimized Oswalt.Pptx
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11/9/14 Forest Resources of the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley 1882 Mississippi River “Improvement” 1927 flood 1927 flood 1973 flood 2011 flood 1 11/9/14 Mississippi (Coahoma Cty), May 1932 Survey Louisiana 1951 Survey Forest Area reported in 1986 1930: 11.8 miLLion acres 1980: 6.6 miLLion acres 2 11/9/14 Forest Area StasNcs Total Area – 26.7 miLLion acres (Defined by 1986 PubLicaon) Forest Area – 7.6 miLLion acres Percent Forested - 28 3 11/9/14 Range: < 3 percent to 70 percent forested Forest types within the broad “BLH” umbreLLa Oak/Gum/Cypress Sweetgum/Nuttall oak/willow oak 1,267.4 Baldcypress/water tupelo 863.5 Overcup oak/water hickory 571.4 Swamp chestnut oak/cherrybark oak 181.3 Sweetbay/swamp tupelo/red maple 179.0 Baldcypress/pondcypress 0.2 Elm/Ash/Cottonwood Sugarberry/hackberry/elm/green ash 1,286.8 Sycamore/pecan/American elm 415.5 Willow 226.6 River birch/sycamore 102.9 Cottonwood 55.5 Cottonwood/willow 50.7 Red maple/lowland 43.4 Forest Type Groups Other eastern softwoods 0% Oak-hickory 17% Oak-gum- cypress Oak-pine 41% 2% Loblolly-shortleaf 7% Nonstocked 3% Exotic hardwoods 1% Other hardwoods Elm-ash- 0% cottonwood 29% Figure 3—Proportion of forest area by forest-type group. Bottomland hardwood area as defined in this publication consists of the oak-gum-cypress and elm-ash-cottonwood forest-type groups, combined. 4 11/9/14 Forest Type Groups and Stand Size 2500 Small diameter 2000 Medium diameter Large diameter 1500 1000 500 Area (thousand acres) 0 Oak-pine Oak-hickory Loblolly-shortleaf Oak-gum-cypress Other hardwoodsExotic hardwoods Elm-ash-cottonwood Other eastern softwoods Forest-type group Figure 4—Forest area by forest-type group and stand-size class, Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley, 2010. 68% of alL stands are Large diameter… 70% of BLH stands are Large diameter Area Trends 14 Total 12 Bottomland hardwood 10 8 6 4 Area Area (million acres) 2 0 1930 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2010 Year Figure 5—Forest area (total and bottomland hardwoods) by year, Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley. County LeveL Change 5 11/9/14 County LeveL Change ProporNon of BLH ReLave to total forest area 100 80 60 40 20 Area (percent of total) 0 1930 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2010 Year Figure 6—Proportion of bottomland hardwoods relative to total forest area by year, Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley. What is Going Where…? Re-measured pLots from 2000 to 2010: --- 9 percent of current forest area was agricuLture at Nme 1 --- 1.3 percent of previousLy forested Land diverted to agricuLture 6 11/9/14 Pecan American sycamore Cherrybark oak 1980 Hawthorn spp. 2010 Willow oak Blackgum White oak Overcup oak Flowering dogwood Texas red oak American hornbeam, musclewood Slippery elm Water-elm, planertree Water hickory Baldcypress Species Common persimmon Water tupelo Eastern hophornbeam Boxelder American elm Water oak Loblolly pine Winged elm Green ash Sugarberry Sweetgum Red maple 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 Number of trees Figure 11—Number of trees per acre for the most common species, Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley, 1980 and 2010. Changes in ReLave Stocking (1980-2010) Lolblolly pine Nuttall oak Green ash Water oak Red maple Winged elm American elm Slippery elm Sugarberry Common persimmon Southern red oak Boxelder Species American hornbeam Eastern hophornbeam Water elm Flowering dogwood Water hickory Baldcypress Willow oak Overcup oak Sweetgum Water tupelo -0.15 -0.10 -0.05 0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 Stocking (percent change) Figure 18—Average annual percent change in relative stocking from 1980 to 2010 by species, Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley. Conclusions v Forest Area in the LMAV has increased since 1980 v BodomLand Hardwood forests have not increased proporNonalLy v UpLand areas account for much of the afforestaon v Changes in LMAV in the Last coupLe of decades are due to diversion to and reversion from agricuLture v Species composiNon remains simiLar to 1980 except: v Trees that typicalLy occupy frequently flooded sites (cypress/tupeLo/water hickory) have reduced abundance v Species that typicalLy occupy dry sites (primariLy LobLoLLy pine) have increased abundance 7 11/9/14 WEST TENNESSEE FLOODPLAIN FORESTS, SEDIMENTATION, AND GEOMORPHOLOGY Sonja N. Oswalt S Outline EDIMENTATION • Brief overview of Basic River GeomorphoLogy and FLoodpLain Dynamics • HydroLogy; Hydroperiod •West Tennessee geography •The Issues and their Impacts on West Tennessee floodpLains: • West Tennessee Landuse IN • West Tennessee SoiLs W • Sedimentaon EST • Normal versus Excessive T ENNESSEE • ChanneLizaon • Levees • Beavers and other natural processes • PeopLe •Restoraon of a river system: what wouLd it take? •Current status •Beyond West Tennessee--A Landscape PerspecNve •Recommended Reading (about W. Tennessee and other FabuLous wetland and river-reLated books that I highLy recommend!) Factors Impac@ng Floodplain Vegeta@on FLoodpLain GeomorphoLogy (study of the origin and evoLuNon of floodpLain Landform) • Main channeL meanders • Point bars, cut banks • Natural Levee • Oxbow Lake • Meander scars • Backswamps • Ridges and swales • FLats 8 11/9/14 Factors Impac@ng Floodplain Vegeta@on FLoodpLain HydroLogy (study of the occurrence, movement, distribuNon, and properNes of water in the river and surrounding floodpLain) • Hydroperiod: • Frequency (how oen flooding occurs) • Duraon (how Long floodwater sNcks around) • Water Depth • FLow Paern GeomorphoLogy + HydroLogy = HydrogeomorpoLogy Factors Impac@ng Floodplain Vegeta@on Sedimentaon in FLoodpLain Systems • Nutrient source for floodpLain soiLs • BuiLds floodpLain topography • Improves water quality as sediments drop out of the water coLumn • Surface for new pLant coLonizaon Sedimentaon Factors: • Source input (bank erosion, nonpoint source – runoff, etc…) • Grain size (fine-siLty, coarse-sandy, etc…) • FLow veLocity (fast, sLow) Factors Impac@ng Floodplain Vegeta@on 9 11/9/14 Factors Impac@ng Floodplain Vegeta@on Factors Impac@ng Floodplain Vegeta@on Sedimentaon in FLoodpLain Systems • Most sedimentaon occurs in/adjacent to the main river channeL • Depressions in the floodpLain also receive comparaveLy high sediment rates • DeposiNon rates are normalLy <1 cm/year on the floodpLain—and usualLy consist of FINE/SILTY soiLs (high nutrient LeveL, high producNvity, good surface for seed estabLishment) Factors Impac@ng Floodplain Vegeta@on 10 11/9/14 Floodplain Forest Composi@on on intact, naturally-func@oning West Tennessee Rivers (i.e. the Hatchie River) Borrowed from Pierce S Geography: Rivers in West Tennessee EDIMENTATION •5 Major Tributaries to the Mississippi (North to South): • Obion River (North, MiddLe, South, and IN Rutherford forks) W • Forked Deer River (North, MiddLe, South forks) EST T • Hatchie River ENNESSEE • Loosahatchie River (“Loosahatchie Canal”) • WoLf River S Geography: Aerial View EDIMENTATION IN W EST T ENNESSEE 11 11/9/14 S Rivers in West Tennessee and the Memphis Sands EDIMENTATION IN W EST T ENNESSEE Soil Composion in West Tennessee (This is very important!) West Tennessee encompasses several ecoregions, incLuding the Mississippi ALLuvial PLain and the Loess BLuffs and Loess PLains • Loess is very fine, windbLown material that was originalLy alLuvium • Loess is easiLy eroded when vegetave cover is removed—very fragiLe soiL • Underneath the Loess is a very deep Layer of unconsoLidated sand, which is part of the Memphis Sands aquifer—this sand erodes easiLy Loess Thickness (feet) Land use: Pre-selement •River systems were unaltered •Nave Americans (general Chickasaw Indians in W. Tennessee) were nomadic, so when floods occurred they moved up to the surrounding bLuffs—thus, floodwaters repLenished nutrients, fish popuLaons, etc… •WiLdLife were pLenNfuL • In 1827 Davy Crocked wrote about hunNng the Obion River system—he describes pLenNfuL popuLaons of fish, ducks and other birds, panthers, eLk, beaver, bears and “every wiLdLife but buffalo.” He also describes kiLLing 105 bears in one season—a testament to the richness of the ecosystem. 12 11/9/14 Land use: Rich, produc@ve soils = Prime Farmland •State boundaries estabLished 1818; Memphis sedLed around 1819; Dyersburg around 1850 •Widespread cLearing in the Loess bLuffs and floodpLain (expLoit and move west was the mindset —ambiNon with LidLe thought to the future) •Timber and agricuLture prevaiLed—then the big soybean boom of the 1960s and 70s •Dyer County is #1 soybean producing county in the state Land use: Rich, produc@ve soils = Prime Farmland West Tennessee’s Fragile Soils Meet Civiliza@on…. When Sediment Load exceeds flow capacity to carry the sediment, it is deposited in the stream bed & floodpLain 13 11/9/14 More Examples from West Tennessee More Examples from West Tennessee More Examples from West Tennessee 14 11/9/14 The “Solu@on” = Channeliza@on •First insNtuted using Levees and jees along with “shortcuts” through meanders in the 1860s on the Mississippi River by Andrew Humphreys and James Buchanan Eads (read more about them in “Rising Tide”) •Was “successfuL” on the Mississippi (at Least, it seemed so at the Nme) at scouring the channeL bedLoad by increasing water veLocity—thus deepening the channeL for navigaon purposes and flood controL • It was onLy natural that, seeing the successes of Humphreys and Eads in scouring the Mississippi, West Tennesseans wouLd give it a try on the cLogged Tennessee streams •ChanneLizaon = • Straightening and shortening the channeL by cung off meanders • Deepening the channeL through dredging and/or scouring • Widening the channeL •IniNalLy began by smalL groups of Landowners, Local governments Channelizaon: What is it? UnchanneLized