Entry #197

This theme session involves presentation by WOU Earth and Environmental Science students enrolled in ES497 Senior Seminar, Spring Term 2026. The focus is on advances in river restoration with case study examples from the Pacific Northwest. Watersheds are comprised of channel networks and represent one of the most fundamental landscape systems on the Earth’s surface. They provide ecological services along riparian corridors that form critical habitat, with salmonid fishes serving as a key indicator of aquatic health in the Pacific Northwest. The historic interplay between human occupation, intensive land management, and fluvial systems has resulted in significant impairment of waterways over the past century. River restoration is the act of improving hydrologic, geomorphic, and ecological processes in a degraded watershed system; and replacing compromised elements therein. This theme session provides an overview of recent advances in watershed assessment strategies and restoration techniques. Topics include: project design, evaluation, salmonid habitat recovery, fluvial hydrology, spawning gravel maintenance, fish passage, dam removal, riparian vegetation, water quality and channel modification techniques.