Welcome to my RenR 690 website! This website looks at one element in a three-year study to determine how unpaved roads in the Alberta foothills impact the instream environment. The project involves three main elements:
- Determination of a background erosion rate in the Simonette watershed using a combination of sedimentation plots, to measure normal road surface erosion, and measurement of ditch-gullying to determine the impact of uncontrolled erosion by concentrated flow.
- Develoment of a connectivity model for the Simonette watershed to determine the likelihood of connection, and the severity of impact for a given road segment.
- Using geographic information systems (GIS) to model road sediment impacts on streams coupled with instream validation of road sediment impact.
Want some more background?