KRIS Map Project Integrated into Version 3.0 Database
 
All KRIS database projects have companion ArcView projects for the geographic area covered and most themes are now included in KRIS Version 3.0, which has a new built in KRIS Map Viewer. Nearly all map layers have a readily-accessible companion metadata file that describes the map layer and provides contact information for the source of that layer. If KRIS is installed on your computer's hard drive and you are viewing maps using the KRIS Map Viewer (the map tab), you can view metadata for a layer by clicking on a layer in the map legend to make it the active layer and then clicking the "M" (metadata) button on the toolbar. If you are browsing KRIS on the www.krisweb.com Internet site, or viewing the web pages included on the KRIS CD-ROMs, you can view map metadata by clicking on a metadata link at the link at the bottom of a map page. 

The Middle Trinity KRIS Map project relies heavily on content from the Trinity Resource Conservation District (TCRCD), the U.S. Forest Service, Graham Matthews and Associates and other contributors. Data are acquired from various sources and re-projected, easily understood legends crafted and metadata compiled by Dr. Paul Trichilo of the KRIS project. Data are arranged for ease of use in subsequent watershed studies. Vegetation data from Landsat also comes from HSU and the Spatial Analysis Lab and was derived under the supervision of Dr. Larry Fox. To learn more about vegetation and timber types, see the Vegetation Type Background page.

 

Trinity River Cooperative Summer Steelhead Surveys

The California Department of Fish and Game and the U.S. Forest Service have cooperated to count summer steelhead and spring chinook annually in Trinity River basin tributaries. California Department of Fish and Game Endangered Salmonids Coordinator Eric Gerstung began counting efforts in 1978 on the North Fork Trinity River and Canyon Creek. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Arcata Fisheries Assistance Office estimated New River summer steelhead and spring chinook populations from 1989 to 2000. The Shasta Trinity National Forest has been coordinating counts for Canyon Creek and the North Fork Trinity since 1990 and the New River since 1999. Everest (1997) describes techniques of dives and results through 1997 for the North Fork Trinity. Results of all surveys are available at the Shasta Trinity National Forest Fisheries web site. See Kier Associates (1999) for specific discussions of recent Klamath River summer steelhead trends (search on key words summer steelhead in Adobe Acrobat).

Trinity River Tributary Adult Steelhead Redd and Juvenile Standing Crop Data 

Since 1999, the California Department of Fish and Game Steelhead Research and Monitoring Project (SRAMP) has collected data in the Trinity River basin, including standing crops of juvenile steelhead estimated using electrofishing (Garrison 2000b; 2002b; 2003) and adult steelhead redd surveys (Garrison, 2000c; 2002a; 2002c). Recent survey results are compared with those of earlier CDFG surveys (La Faunce, 1967; Rogers, 1973). See Fish Population KRIS Background page for more information.

Trinity County Resource Conservation District Grass Valley Creek Erosion Control Projects

The photos of Grass Valley Creek restoration in KRIS come from the Trinity County Resource Conservation District (TCRCD). The TCRCD has taken the lead on erosion control projects in Grass Valley Creek with assistance from the Natural Resources Conservation Service. The TCRCD (1999) published a report on the history of land use, erosional history and technical design of the large-scale restoration project undertaken in the Grass Valley Creek watershed. The report also provides information on the success of various techniques applied. Grass Valley Creek has weak bedrock geology with substantial amounts of decomposed granite. Timber harvest and road building greatly accelerated erosion and large amounts of sediment were delivered to the main stem of the Trinity River. The TCRCD report describes how reduced flows due to the construction of dams combined with increased fine sediment lead to degraded spawning habitat conditions in the mainstem Trinity below Lewiston. Much of the watershed has been acquired and is now managed by the Bureau of Land Management.

Trinity River Basin Sediment Source Investigation 

The Sediment Source Analysis for the Mainstem Trinity River, Trinity County, CA (Graham Matthews and Assoc., 2001) assessed landsliding, surface erosion, legacy erosion sources, fluvial erosion and, channel storage. The assessment relied on photo-based mapping and considerable field verification surveys. Detailed sample plots were used to estimate the occurrence of small-scale erosional features, as well as legacy roads. Detailed road inventories were used to establish erosion rates by geologic type, road position, and road surfacing. Estimates of fluvial erosion were based field inventories and applied on a stream order basis. Sources of sediment in the Trinity River basin include landsliding (deep-seated landslides, shallow-seated landslides or debris slides, and debris flows or torrents), surface erosion (hillslope erosion and road erosion), and fluvial erosion (gullying and streambank erosion). 

The assimilated data were used to develop a sediment budget for the basin. The budget included input and output terms. Change in storage is not available for a sufficient portion of the watershed to have meaningful results. Inputs are from landsliding, road surface erosion, harvest area surface erosion, bank erosion, fluvial hillslope erosion (gullies), legacy roads and mining, and creep. Output values are based on measurements of sediment transport at the gaging stations near the confluence of each tributary with the mainstem. 

A major constraint on implementation of this study involved access limitations, primarily involving lack of access to private lands, especially industrial timberlands. Information on these private lands was only developed by indirect methods involving aerial photo analysis and GIS analysis. Sediment source and budget data shown in KRIS charts of sediment supply and transport have some qualifications regarding use, which are stated in the final report, but can be viewed as a note.

Water Temperature Monitoring

There now hundreds of water temperature datasets for Trinity River basin locations in KRIS Version 3.0. Data come from the Shasta Trinity National Forest, Six Rivers National Forest, Trinity County Resource Conservation District, Weaverville Natural Resource Conservation Service and private companies. The region-wide temperature data assimilation by the Institute for Forest and Watershed Management (IFWM) at Humboldt State University, formerly known as the Forest Science Project, aided data acquisition for Version 3.0 greatly. IFWM published an access database of  stream temperature monitoring data for the northern California coast (Lewis et al., 2000). The IFWM database includes 128 sites in the Trinity basin, with 15 in the Lower Trinity sub-basin, 42 in the Middle Trinity sub-basin, and 71 in the South Fork Trinity sub-basin. Descriptions of monitoring site locations for the Trinity Basin can be viewed as a table

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Arcata Field Office has deployed automated temperature sensors throughout the Klamath and Trinity River watersheds, including the a number of stations along the mainstem Trinity. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has published numerous reports which utilize the water temperature data they collect (Guillien, 2003; Zedonis, 2003). Water temperature references used in KRIS are based on Pacific Northwest wide literature on salmonids and temperature (Armor, 1990; McCullough, 1999; Sullivan et al., 2000; Welsh, 2001). See the KRIS Temperature Background page for more information.

California Department of Fish and Game Photographs

Historical photographs of Grass Valley Creek and habitat problems associated with logging and the construction of Highway 299 were chronicled by Millard Coots of the California Department of Fish and Game. His clear pictures and incisive captions, typed and pasted on the prints, provide insight into compromised salmon, steelhead and trout production in 1960.

U.S. Forest Service New River Stream Surveys and Photographs

The Shasta Trinity National Forest manages most of the New River watershed and has conducted many stream surveys. The KRIS project captured photos and stream surveys from the USFS and CDFG. Reports can be found in the New River section of the KRIS Bibliography.  

Trinity River Tributary Flow Duration Curves

Trinity River tributary flow records are taken mostly from data collected by the U.S. Geologic Survey and previously compiled and analyzed by McBain and Trush for studies related to the Trinity River flow evaluation. Flow duration curves are patterned after their work. For more information see McBain and Trush (1997).