Riparian Notes

Riparian Notes
by Steve Nelle, Retired NRCS Texas

The original intent of “Riparian Notes” was to be a very informal in-house NRCS educational tool. The idea was to provide some very basic riparian information in a digestible one page format. The natural resource community in Texas (landowners, land managers, interested citizens, NGO and government agency workers) in general are not very aware of riparian issues. The range discipline in Texas until very recently, has ignored the importance of riparian areas and we have unintentionally treated them like sacrifice area.

The desire for the notes is to increase the awareness and appreciation of the function and the values of creeks and riparian areas and to foster a better understanding of the connection between uplands, riparian areas and water resources. Sort of a Riparian 101 class broken down into a new and different way, and to incorporate creative management to help restore and maintain them.

 

Note 1 – Adoption of Riparian Buffers Note 2 – Riparian Roots
Note 3 – Value of Willow Baccaharis Note 4 – Barometers of the Land
Note 5 – Riparian Sponge – Bigger is Better Note 6 – Water Sheds or Water Catchments
Note 7 – Response to Water Catchments Note 8 – Growing Riparian Emphasis
Note 9 – Ribbons of Gold Note 10 – The Right Kinds of Riparian Plants
Note 11 – Losing ground Note 12 – Gaining Ground through Good Land Stewardship
Note 13 – A Difficult Journey Note 14 – Old Pick-up Trucks and Riparian Areas
Notes 15 – Good Enough Note 16 – Progress, Setbacks, and Interruptions
Notes 17 – The Right Question Note 18 – Finding the Right Parts
Notes 19 – Learning from History Note 20 – Riparian Roots Reinforce River Banks
Note 21 – Arundo Alert Note 22 – The Main Thing
Note 23 – What is a Creek Note 24 – Floodplain Clarification
Note 25 – Simple, Neat, and Wrong Note 26 – Drought in the Riparian Areas
Note 27 – Rocket Science Note 28 – Creek and River Myths
Notes 29 –  Myths; Drought Notes 30 – Cutbanks
Notes 31 – Straight and Wide Notes 32 – Riparian trees