Riparian Restoration
Much of our work focuses on riparian areas (the area between the land and water) and waterways. These areas are vital to overall water quality and the well-being of wildlife. Healthy riparian areas can filter fertilizers, pesticides, animal waste, and sediment from runoff before they enter the waterway. They reduce erosion by stabilizing the streambank. Healthy riparian areas also provide shelter, food, and natural corridors for wildlife.
Fill out our Request for Assistance form if you're interested in implementing these restoration practices on your property. And be sure to check out our Landowner Guide to Buffer Maintenance and Success!
Eligible Programs for Water Quality
Commodity Buffers: A commodity buffer is a strip of perennial vegetation established at the edge of a waterway. The land manager must install and maintain the required buffer according to the type of waterway, tillage practice, and associated Soil Tillage Intensity Rating. Compensation rates are valued at or above adjacent crop rotations. Click here to learn more about commodity buffers.
Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP): This program compensates farmers for planting native trees, shrubs, or grasses in streamside areas of their property to improve salmon habitat.
Common Restoration Practices for Water Quality
Planting Projects
Please note: These practices may require site preparation activities to manage weeds, pests, diseases, soil conditions, and water availability prior to planting.
Riparian Forest Buffers: A riparian forest buffer is an area adjacent to a waterway that is planted with native trees and shrubs. Eligible waterways include permanent or intermittent streams, lakes, ponds, and wetlands. Planting these buffers can accomplish the following conservation purposes:
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Create shade to lower or maintain water temperatures to improve habitat for aquatic organisms
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Create or improve riparian habitat and provide a source of large woody debris for aquatic and terrestrial wildlife
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Reduce excess amounts of sediment, organic material, nutrients, and pesticides in surface runoff or shallow groundwater flow
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Reduce pesticide drift entering the water body
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Restore riparian plant communities
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Increase carbon storage in plant biomass and soils
Tree and Shrub Establishment: Establishing woody plants by planting seedlings, direct seeding, or supporting natural regeneration. This practice can be applied on any site capable of growing woody plants. Establishing woody plants can accomplish the following conservation purposes:
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Maintain or improve desirable plant diversity, productivity, and health by establishing woody plants
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Create or improve habitat for wildlife, including pollinators
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Control erosion
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Reduce excess nutrients and other pollutants in surface runoff and groundwater
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Sequester and store carbon
Hedgerow: Establishing dense vegetation in a linear design to accomplish the following conservation purposes:
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Provide food, cover, and/or corridors for terrestrial or aquatic wildlife.
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Improve water quality and aquatic habitat in certain ditches and channels modified for agricultural uses
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Create living fences
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Intercept airborne particulate matter or screen noise and dust
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Reduce chemical drift and odor movement
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Increase carbon storage in biomass and soils
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Delineate boundaries or contour guidelines
Filter Strip: A strip or area of vegetation that removes contaminants from overland flow. This practice is applied in environmentally sensitive areas to reduce contaminants and sediment in surface runoff or irrigation tailwater before it enters surface waters.
Common Restoration Practices for Water Quality
In-Stream Restoration
Beaver Dam Analogs (BDAs) and Post-Assisted Log Structures (PALS): These temporary structures are constructed by pounding untreated wooden posts into the streambed and weaving plant debris into the structure. BDAs are designed to mimic natural beaver dams. BDAs and PALS can slow fast-moving waters, increase summer flows, promote floodplain connection, collect sediment, and decrease streambank erosion. They can improve biodiversity by providing and maintaining habitat for fish and wildlife species.
Streambank and Shoreline Protection: Treatments used to stabilize and protect streambanks, shorelines, and constructed channels. Projects typically utilize bioengineered wooden posts and plant debris or rock (rip rap). These practices maintain flow capacity of streams, reduce sediment erosion along the bank, and prevent the loss of land or damage to land uses and adjacent facilities. Streambank and shoreline protection can also improve fish and wildlife habitat, aesthetics, and recreation within a stream.
Common Restoration Practices for Water Quality
Livestock Management
Offsite Watering Facility: Provides designated access to drinking water for livestock or wildlife. Watering facilities can improve water quality by keeping livestock out of streams and rivers while supplying daily water requirements and improving animal distribution.
Livestock Pipeline: Conveys water for livestock and wildlife. May also reduce energy use and develop renewable energy systems.
Heavy Use Protection Area: Stabilizes a ground surface that is frequently and intensively used by people, animals, or vehicles in order to provide a stable, non-eroding surface and to protect adjacent water quality.
Fencing: Constructing a barrier to animals or people.
Stream Crossing: A stabilized area or structure constructed across a stream to provide controlled access for people, livestock, equipment, or vehicles. Stream crossings can improve water quality by reducing erosion and nutrients entering the stream.
For more information on our riparian restoration program, please contact:
Drew Schuldt | DrewS@PalouseCD.org | (509) 553-1853
Riparian Restoration Resources
The following resources provide information on riparian restoration. Click the title of each resource to access it.
Videos
Weekly Science Challenge: Understanding Riparian Habitats - Headwaters Science
Welcome to the Riparian Zone - Northwest Treaty Tribes
Educational Resources
Washington State Conservation Commission: The Ripple Effect
The Ripple Effect is a Washington State Conservation Commission-led campaign to provide education and resources on the restoration and stewardship of Washington’s waterways. Learn about the basics of riparian health, explore a robust page of resource links, and see a photo gallery of riparian restoration projects across the state.
Washington State Department of Ecology: Riparian Education
This educational website provides an overview of riparian systems, steps involved in the riparian restoration process, and related links.
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife: Riparian Areas
This educational website provides information on the basics of riparian ecosystems and management, including definitions and species found within riparian zones. Specific resources include WDFW’s management tools and publications, descriptions of WDFW’s current riparian restoration projects throughout the state, and links to other agency publications and educational resources.
Washington State University: Watershed Stewardship
This webpage includes links to educational websites and publications relating to the restoration of Washington’s wetlands, forests, and streams.
Technical Resources, Guides, Etc.
Washington State Conservation Commission: Riparian Restoration Technical Reference Resources
This document (pub. March 2024) provides a list of technical guides and online databases for riparian restoration management, planning, and practice standards in Washington State, with brief descriptions of each resource. Sources include a variety of state and federal agencies, such as USDA-NRCS, WA-DNR, and WDFW. Also included is a list of websites and publications on native plant and vegetation communities in both Eastern and Western Washington from sources including the Washington Native Plant Society and regional universities.
Natural Resources Conservation Service – Field Office Technical Guide
NRCS provides local planning, technical assistance, and funding for the implementation of specific conservation practices, including riparian restoration practices. This guide is an online library of NRCS’s conservation practice standards in PDF form. Each document includes the definition, purpose, criteria, and further resources for each conservation practice.
Using this website: Documents can be searched via the “Document Tree” or the “Document Search” platforms. If using “Document Search,” search for a practice standard by keyword. If navigating through the table of contents in the “Document Tree,” scroll to “Section 4,” select “Index,” and explore the practice standards listed alphabetically. Included in this library are the most currently published versions of each practice standard as well as previous editions.
Below are direct links to a few NRCS conservation practice standards related to riparian restoration that can be found in this online library:
Conservation Practice Standard: Riparian Herbaceous Cover (Code 390)
Conservation Practice Standard: Riparian Forest Buffer (Code 391)
Conservation Practice Standard: Stream Habitat Improvement and Management (Code 395)
This document (pub. April 2023) includes an introductory overview of the importance of riparian ecosystems to pollinators in Washington State, with a focus on native bees and butterflies. The purpose of the publication is to provide “guidance for incorporating pollinator-friendly management and conservation practices into land use activities in riparian areas…This publication includes a tool for assessing and scoring a site’s function and value as pollinator habitat. Land managers can use the outcome of this assessment to determine the management recommendations and BMPs with the highest potential to effectively mitigate land use impacts to pollinator habitat.”
Populus: The Columbia Basin Riparian Planting Partnership
Populus is an organization founded through the Yakima Basin Fish and Wildlife Recovery Board that partners with conservation agencies to host in-person educational workshops, classes, and online webinars relating to riparian restoration and management across Central and Eastern Washington. Events include the annual Eastern Washington Planting Symposium. The Populus website includes a calendar of upcoming events.
This document (pub. 2008) provides an in-depth guide for planning and designing riparian buffers, including visuals, diagrams, and definitions. The publication is organized by seven “resource sections” to consider multiple factors of riparian restoration, including water quality, biodiversity, aesthetics, soils, and outdoor recreation. According to the document, “the purpose of this publication is to provide a synthesis of this diverse knowledge base into distilled, easy-to-understand design guidelines.”