Influence of streambank fencing with a cattle crossing on riparian health and water quality of the Lower Little Bow River in southern Alberta, Canada
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Authors: J. Miller, D. Chanasyk, T. Curtis, T. Entz, and W. Willms
Date: 2010
Journal: Agricultural Water Management
Volume: 97
Number: 2
Pages: 247-258
Summary of Methods: The effect of riparian fencing with cattle crossings (BMP) on riparian health and preventing and reducing nonpoint source pollution was examined on the mixed grass prairie east of Lethbridge in southern Alberta, CA, along the Lower Little Bow River, from 2001-2007. Barbed wire fence with cattle crossing was installed along 800m reach of both sides of river, 2001. Cattle were grazed in a rotational grazing sytem. Water samples were collected every week for chemical, and every two weeks for bacterial, analysis. Temperature, pH, electrical conductivity (EC), dissolved oxygen (DO) turbidity, and Chlorophyll-a were measured in field. Water samples were analyzed for NH₃-N, NO₂-N, NO₃-N, dissolved reactive P (DRP) or ortho-P, total N (TN), total P (TP), fecal coliforms and E. coli (by colony-forming units or CFU.) Pre- and post-fencing (BMP) streambank assessments of 6 vegetation factors (floodplain and streambank cover, invasive plant spp., disturbance-increasers or undesired herbaceous spp., preferred tree and shrub establishment and regeneration, utilization of trees and shrubs, and standing decadent and dead woody material) and 5 soil and hydrology factors (streambank root mass protection, human-caused bare ground, streambank structurally altered by human activity, pugging and/or hummocky, and stream channel incisement) were conducted.
Article Summary / Main Points: Pre-BMP riparian assessment results were 65%, or healthy but with problems, and post-BMP results were 81%, or healthy. Vegetation improved from 42% (unhealthy) to 65% (healthy but with problems) and soil and hydrology from 80% to 93% (healthy) from 2001-2007. Thus, overall riparian health improved with cattle exclusion. The authors concluded that streambank fencing generally prevented water pollution downstream. Fencing prevented degradation of most water quality variables downstream. There was no strong correlation between water quality variables and river flow, in contrast to previous findings.
Vegetation Types: Northern Mixed Prairie
MLRA Ecoregions: Not Applicable
Agrovoc Control Words: Grazing Ripairian Watersheds
Article Review Type: Refereed
Article Type: Experimental Research
Keywords: cattle exclusion, riparian health, river water quality, sediment, nutrients, bacteria
Annotation: Though this study was conducted in Alberta, the area was quite far south and representative of mixed grass prairie vegetation indicative of the database area of interest. There is some concern on the part of this reviewer that author conclusions may not be fully supported by the data; however, this paper was published in a peer-reviewed journal so has gone through that review process.
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