The impact of afforestation on stream bank erosion and channel form

Abstract

Abstract Modification of the land use of a small catchment through coniferous afforestation is shown to have influenced stream bank erosion and channel form. Field mapping and erosion pin measurements over a 19‐month period provides evidence of more active bank erosion along forested channel reaches than along non‐forested. Extrapolation of downstream increases in bankfull width, bankfull depth, and channel capacity with increasing basin area for the non‐forested catchment has demonstrated that afforestation of the lower part of the catchment has had a marked effect on channel form. Channel widths within the forest are up to three times greater than that predicted from the regression. These changes in bankfull width have led to stream bed aggradation and the development of wide shallow channels within the forest, and channel capacities within the forest are over two times that predicted from the basin area. The relationship between channel sinuosity and valley gradient for non‐forested reaches of the river also indicated decreased sinuosity resulting from afforestation. These changes in channel form result from active bank erosion within the forest with coarse material being deposited within the channel as point‐bars and mid‐channel bars. Active bank erosion is largely attributed to the suppression by the forest of a thick grass turf and its associated dense network of fine roots, and secondly to the river attempting to bypass log jams and debris dams in the stream channel.