Case Studies for Stream Restoration

Stream Power Framework for Predicting Geomorphic Change: The 2013 Colorado Front Range Flood

Steven Yochum, PhD, PE Hydrologist Fish Creek, Estes Park, Colorado U.S. Forest Service 10/2013 National Stream and Aquatic Ecology Center Fort Collins, Colorado Stream Power Framework for Predicting Geomorphic Change: The 2013 Colorado Front Range Flood Collaborators: Julian A. Scott Joel S. Sholtes, PhD, EIT U.S. Forest Service US Bureau of Reclamation National Stream and Aquatic Ecology Center Sedimentation and River Hydraulics Fort Collins, Colorado Group, Technical Service Center Denver, Colorado Brian P. Bledsoe, PhD, PE University of Georgia School of Environmental, Civil, Agricultural, and Mechanical Engineering Athens, Georgia Overview of Problem • It is common practice to constrain streams along highway corridors by road and railroad embankments, especially in narrow valleys • During large floods, these highways and railroads are vulnerable to failure

Big Thompson River & US-34, on the Roosevelt National Forest, Colorado Q = 430 m3/s (15,000 cfs) ω = 2700 W/m2 (10/21/2013; graphic created in ArcGlobe) Overview of Problem • It is also common practice to build homes and business immediately adjacent to stream channels • Oftentimes these structures are placed in erosion hazard zones

Drake, Colorado Image source: NRCS exigent EWP Overview of Problem • Tools are needed to manage stream corridors more thoughtfully • Erosion hazard zones • Sufficient floodplain extent for conveyance and ecological function

Before and after view of the 2005 flood damage in St. George, Utah (FEMA 2007). Green lines are 100-yr floodplain boundary and orange lines are mapped erosion hazard boundaries. extracted from Jagt et al. 2016 Colorado Front Range Flood: Study Area

Overview • September 2013 • Heavily impacted stream corridors in the Front Range Foothills and adjacent high plains Precipitation • 15 to 18 inches in high-impact areas • Majority during a 36 hour period: Sept 11-12, 2013 • Rainfall depths similar to average annual precipitation Flood Response

Borga et al. 2014, Alfieri et al. 2012

• Flood response due to the most intense rainfall periods varied on both spatial and temporal scales

• Landslides and debris flows • minutes to hours scale • on mountain slopes

East Side of Twin Sisters, 11/8/2013 Flood Response • Small to medium-size foothills streams flooded on an hours to day scale

• Primary riverine flood peaked on Borga et al. 2014, Alfieri et al. 2012 scale of days • South Platte at Fort Morgan peak on 9/15

Big Thompson River 9/13/2013 @ 1549 Northern Flood Extent

• Triangles: peak flow estimate locations • Unit discharges up to 480 cfs/mi^2 recorded (red polygons – highest yields) • Peaks flows: • Cache la Poudre: 8100 cfs, 25- to 50-year flood • Big Thompson: 19,000 cfs, 100-year flood (1976: 31,000 cfs, 144 deaths) • Headwaters of Big Thompson (and likely Little Thompson): >200-year flood Central Flood Extent

• Unit discharges up 1340 cfs/mi^2 (red polygons – highest yields) • Peaks flows: • St. Vrain: 23,800 cfs, >200 year flood • Left Hand: 3500 cfs, >200 year flood • Boulder Creek: 8400 cfs, 100- to 200-year flood • Coal Creek: 3900 cfs, 100- to 200-year flood • Clear Creek: 1500 cfs, 5- year flood Riverine Flood Impacts

Geomorphic adjustments included:

• localized streambank erosion • hillslope and terrace failures • reach-scale channel widening • sediment deposition • rapid downstream meander migration • channel avulsions and braiding

Big Thompson River at canyon mouth Sylvan Dale Ranch (9/24/2013; graphic created in ArcGlobe) Flood Impacts Fish Creek, Estes Park 10/29/2013 area

10/16/2013 Flood Impacts Fish Creek (~4800 cfs, >200-year flood, <0.5% chance of occurrence)

2011 9/29/2013 Flood Impacts

N.F. Big Thompson, Glen Haven

10/16/2013 Flood Impacts

Glen Haven

2011 9/29/2013 Flood Impacts

Confluence of N.F. Big Thompson and Big Thompson, Drake

2011 10/21/2013

CDOT Flood Impacts

Lyons

11/13/2013 Flood Impacts

Jamestown

10/29/2013

10/29/2013 Flood Impacts

Magnitude of flood impact dependent upon variability in driving and resisting mechanisms to geomorphic change • Example variables for driving forces: • peak discharge • total and unit stream power • flow duration • channel and floodplain slope and form • differential unit stream power • Example resisting mechanisms: • flow resistance • bank and bed composition • vegetation type and extent • engineered bank stabiization Study Approach • Developed classification scheme for increasing geomorphic adjustment • Computed variables describing driving forces • unit stream power (@ peak flow) • total stream power (@ peak flow) • channel confinement • Developed thresholds and applicability limits for geomorphic change prediction

North St. Vrain Creek (4/9/2014) Study Approach

Unit Stream Power (W/m2; lb/ft-s): 훾: specific weight water Ω 훾푄푆푓 Q: discharge ω = = 푤 푤 Sf: friction slope w: flow width Confined Reaches (n = 248): • Unit stream power computed using total peak discharge, flow width, reach-averaged slope

Unconfined Reaches (n = 283): • Channel unit stream power computed using HEC-RAS, with post- flood geometry (LiDAR) Study Approach

Class descriptors of geomorphic adjustment (blind quality assurance process utilized)

1. No detected geomorphic change 2. Infrequent eroded streambanks (<25% streambank length) 3. Numerous eroded streambanks (>25% streambank length) 4. Substantially widened channel over the majority of the reach length 5. Major geomorphic change, with avulsions, braiding, or roadway embankments and high terraces eliminated or substantially eroded by erosional and/or depositional processes 6. Narrow valley form (canyon) limits geomorphic adjustment potential, with no substantial pre-flood floodplains detected Study Approach (Class 5) Major geomorphic change, with avulsions, braiding, or roadway embankments and high terraces eliminated or substantially eroded by erosional and/or depositional processes

(Class 4) Substantially widened channel over the majority of the reach length Study Approach

Statistical Analyses:

• Analysis of Variance (ANOVA): to detect significant differences in geomorphic change classes

• Kendall rank correlation: to detect if unit stream power was significantly correlated with the ordinal change classes

• Cumulative logit modeling: Utilized to assess prediction capabilities of ordinal change classes Results

Geomorphic change class and stream power were assessed in the South Platte River basin in and adjacent to the Colorado Front Range foothills • 531 reaches on 226 km of 16 impacted streams • Reach lengths: 71 to 500 m (average = 426 m) • Watershed areas: 4.3 to 2900 km2 • Channel slopes: 0.2 to 10.5%

St. Vrain Results Results Results • Peak flow unit streampower of up to 7000 W/m2 • Geomorphic change varied from extreme to minor or not detected • With transition from higher- gradient confined reaches to lower- gradient, less- confined reaches: progressive decrease in unit stream power Results

Generally, unit stream power was positively related to geomorphic change (part A) Results Reaches with less geomorphic adjustment at higher stream power were higher gradient (> 3%) • step-pool channels with higher flow resistance and bed armoring

Left Hand Creek (graphic created in ArcGlobe) Results

Some reaches had relatively low stream power but large amounts of geomorphic change • downstream of canyon mouths • large reductions in unit stream power and sediment transport conveyance capacity

Left Hand Creek (graphic created in ArcGlobe) Results

For each geomorphic change class, unit stream power was smaller for unconfined reaches than confined reaches

Big Thompson River at canyon mouth Sylvan Dale Ranch (9/24/2013; graphic created in ArcGlobe) Results

Cumulative Logit Modeling • Models fit to entire dataset Model Model Sensitivity by Geomorphic Change Model Predictor Variables 1 Dataset2 Accuracy poorly predicted the Category (%)3 (%)4 2 3 4 5 geomorphic response 1 usp + usp:conf 1 4 19 10 85 44 2 sp + sp:conf.cat 1 0 29 33 78 49 • <50% accurate 3 usp + 'usp:conf.cat 2 0 50 9 75 43 4 sp + sp:conf.cat 2 2 58 32 75 52 • Models fitted to subsetted 5 sp + sp:conf + dSP 3 33 35 92 74 6 usp + conf.cat + dUSP 3 18 26 92 70 7 sp 3 15 32 93 71 dataset (S<3%, 4&5 lumped) 8 usp 3 7 21 93 68 9 sp + sp:conf + grad.sp 4 71 86 81 performed well 10 usp + conf.cat + dUSP 4 63 84 77 11 sp 4 67 89 82 12 usp 4 63 85 78 • 68% to 74% accurate 13 sp + sp:conf 5 60 90 81 14 usp*conf + dUSP 5 47 91 78 • Models based on two classes 15 sp 5 60 92 83 16 usp 5 37 91 75 (2&3, and 4&5 lumped) 17 slope + conf 5 12 97 72 (1) See table 1 for predictor variable definitions. The operator “*” denotes both an additive and an interaction affect performed best betw een the tw o variable. The operator “:” denotes an interaction effect betw een tw o variable. (2) Dataset 1 is the complete dataset; dataset 2 only contains reaches w ith slopes < 3%; dataset 3 is the same as 2 but w ith geomorphic change Fcategories 4 & 5 lumped into one response category; dataset 4 is the same as 2 but • 72% to 83% accurate w ith categories 2 & 3 lumped and categories 4 & 5 lumped (tw o response categories); and dataset 5 is the complete dataset w ith the same tw o response categories as in dataset 4. (3) Model sensitivity is define as the percent of correctly-predicted geomorphic response w ithin each response category based on a leave-one-out analysis. (4) Model accuracy is the percent of geomorphic response category classes correctly predicted overall based on a leave-one-out analysis. Results

Noting mechanisms behind outliers, dataset was subsetted to: • Exclude reaches with slopes >3% (due to mechanistic shift from bedforms) • Exclude reaches with large reductions in unit stream power (shift in geomorphic change mechanism) • Insignificantly different change classes grouped • n = 358 Threshold Results

ω > 230 W/m2: credible potential for substantial channel widening • 10% of the observed adjustment class reaches had ω < 230 W/m2

Utilizing the precautionary principle, for streams < 3% and where unit stream power is not rapidly decreasing (geomorphic change due to erosional processes, not depositional) Threshold Results

ω > 480 W/m2: a credible potential for avulsions, braiding, and loss of adjacent road embankments • 10% of the observed adjustment class reaches had ω < 480 W/m2

Utilizing the precautionary principle, for streams < 3% and where unit stream power is not rapidly decreasing (geomorphic change due to erosional processes, not depositional) Threshold Results

ω > 700 W/m2: infrequent to numerous eroded banks were very likely and the risk of substantial channel widening or major geomorphic change shifts from credible to likely

Utilizing the precautionary principle, for streams < 3% and where unit stream power is not rapidly decreasing (geomorphic change due to erosional processes, not depositional) Utilization for Geomorphic Change Prediction

Threshold results can be utilized for prediction of erosion- dominated geomorphic change (testing for resilience) • Front Range streams • Other semi-arid streams • Utilizes standard HEC-RAS modeling that is performed for flood inundation prediction and other uses

Key limitations: • Slope < 3% • riffle pool and plane bed, not step pool or cascade longitudinal profiles • Geomorphic adjustment due to erosional processes (not depositional), without large reductions in unit stream power • not applicable at and downstream of canyon mouths (for several km) Utilization for Geomorphic Change Prediction

For example, consider: • Highway realignment project being designed in a semiarid riparian setting • The stream: • average slope of 1.8% • semiconfined • varying floodplain widths between a steep valley wall and an existing 2-lane state highway • Roadway is planned to be expanded from 2 to 4 lanes • Initial design: • Further constrain the riparian zone by filling the valley bottom for the expanded roadway • May result in a highway corridor that is substantially more susceptible to geomorphic failure and negative riparian impacts during large floods Utilization for Geomorphic Change Prediction

For 100-year (1% chance of exceedance) flood: • HEC-RAS modeling performed • No dramatic longitudinal reductions in ω (not depositional) • Analysis indicated substantial increases in ω between existing conditions and proposed design Utilization for Geomorphic Change Prediction

• on average, ω increases from 190 to 280 W/m2 • credible potential for channel widening

280 190 280 190 Utilization for Geomorphic Change Prediction

• a few locations projected to experience ω = 550 W/m2 • credible potential for avulsions and the loss of road embankment

550

550 550 Utilization for Geomorphic Change Prediction

• one location where ω = 760 W/m2 • infrequent to numerous eroded banks very likely • credible to likely: likelihood of substantially widened channel or major geomorphic change

760

760 760 Utilization for Geomorphic Change Prediction

Considering these results and the precautionary principle: • lead engineer decides that design modifications are required to reduce the likelihood of roadway embankment failure • there is a need for: • additional blasting of valley walls • hauling and disposing of material to non-riparian areas • concern regarding riparian resources on the National Forest Stream Power Framework for Predicting Geomorphic Change: The 2013 Colorado Front Range Flood

Supporting References: • Stream power framework for predicting geomorphic change: The 2013 Colorado Front Range flood Geomorphology, Yochum et al. 2017 • Predicting Geomorphic Change during Large Floods in Semiarid Landscapes Forest Service NSAEC Technical Summary Report, Yochum and Scott 2017 Stream Power Framework for Predicting Geomorphic Change: The 2013 Colorado Front Range Flood Steven Yochum, PhD, PE Questions? Joel Sholtes, PhD, EIT Julian Scott Brian Bledsoe, PhD, PE