New Technologies for Monitoring River Flow Dynamics for Habitat Restoration Following Historical High Flows

Historic high flow events in the Northeast US have occurred recently following several hurricanes.  Hurricane Irene moved through the eastern Adirondacks in August 2011 resulting in 12 inches of rainfall within a 24 hour period in the upper Ausable River watershed.   The High Peaks of the Adirondacks drain into the watershed and with the steep gradients and high flows resulted in a massive amount of bedload movement.  The East Branch Ausable River was severely impacted, with a one mile stretch located on Adirondack Mountain Reserve property washed out.  To better inform habitat restoration planning, we initiated a study to observe high flows to assess where the river wants to move.  The river is approximately 500m wide in this section and difficult to observe from one location.  We used a drone to obtain aerial photos and video of the river during various flow events to better visualize river patterns resulting in more informed engineering designs for the restoration.  This technology will be useful in the future to monitor how the river responds to restoration efforts and potentially observe how fish repopulate the area.