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forms a highly useful archive of the conditions when the mining company first began operations. Over time, as other development occurs within this stream reach, impacts such as increased sedimentation resulting from bank clearing by farmers or homeowners will not be attributed to the mining operation by default as the largest project in the area. The geovideo survey allows site-specific impacts to be separated from cumulative impacts associated with general on-going development. Beaver Creek Bank Erosion Susceptibility Index Low Moderate High Very High Figure 1: Results of the Bank Erosion Susceptibility Index that included bank angle, bank height to bank full ratio, surface protection, and riparian diversity. resolution, geovideo mapping was boat mounted thus eliminating issues associated with access on private property as would be required for most transect methods. Dam Removal: In Alabama, Goodwin’s Mill Dam is set to be removed from the Big Canoe Creek in order to remove the barrier to fish and mussel movement. Given the high cost of dam removal and subsequent stream restoration, it is important to monitor stream conditions to assure that improved habitat conditions have resulted from the dam removal actions. One problem when attempting to document changes resulting from dam removal using traditional transect surveys is that the changes to the stream can occur over a broad area up and downstream from the removal site. This makes determining the placement and number of transects subjective. More transects over a wider area will likely document changes more effectively, but this come with a high cost to the annual monitoring budget. To solve this problem, we used the high-definition geovideo surveying methods. In only 2 1/2 hours, this technique allowed us to quickly collect 1-meter resolution data of both stream banks and the stream bottom for over 3 miles of stream centered on the dam site. The geovideo surveying method was used to delineate pool-riffle-run sequencing, substrate type and embeddedness, depth, bank full depth, bank angle and height, bank erosion potential, and riparian diversity. This information will help show trends in sediment movement, stream geometry, and habitat conditions by comparing the results of annual surveys and to (hopefully) document improving conditions resulting from the dam removal effort. WWW.KYTNWEA.ORG I FALL 2013 Mining Impacts: A mining company has a claim along the Weogufka Creek and needed to document baseline conditions prior to the mine opening. Many times this type of baseline documentation takes the form of a few transects near the project site and spot surveys at access locations in the larger area. Using traditional methods, the access points were too few and far between in this remote location to gain reliable data. This lack of access to appropriate sites would have made it difficult to pinpoint any direct impact on the creek due to the mining practices. In only one day, the geovideo survey techniques were used to collect a fully integrated suite of stream and streambank metrics for 17 miles of Weogufka Creek around the project location. Now regulators and the mining company can see any future direct impacts from the mining operation and work quickly and effectively to remedy any negative problems that may arise. An additional benefit arose from using the geovideo survey approach; the survey video Habitat Impacts during Reservoir Drawdowns: For large dam operators, assessing the impacts of management actions on all of the competing uses for water can be a complex task. For the Alabama Power Company (APC), understanding the impact of a reservoir drawdown on potential habitat of endangered mussel species was one such problem. We used the survey platform to collect integrated shoreline and cross-sectional transects on a large section of the Coosa River. The data were used to update internal APC models to better assess habitat loss associated with various drawdown levels. In several related projects, river survey data was also used to model catastrophic flood impacts, as well as modeling flows at a potential intake and discharge sites for industrial plants. As in all of the other examples, better field data are essential to accurately understanding the impacts of various management actions. In summary, by using georeferenced high- definition video of stream, streambank and streambed characteristics, the video can be assessed for many different characteristics. Integrating the video with other sensors allows a range of habitat conditions to be measured including: • Right and left shoreline conditions, such as, bank height, bank angle, bank stability Figure 2: Photos of GPS location, shoreline, and substrate of sites less than 1 mile apart. This is a great example of how stream conditions can vary within the same reach and highlights the need for surveys to cover more area than is typically sampled in a traditional transect survey. CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO TABLE OF CONTENTS Lines 15