Valley Floor Mapping

Existing methods to map valley floors do not cover the full range of settings found across Washington state or are semi-automated and require significant user input. The method used in this work fills this niche – it is a fully automated tool that maps topographic valley floors independent of the character of the contemporary stream and is able to handle both lowlands with very broad valley floors and confined high-gradient reaches. The resulting dataset can serve as a baseline domain in which future work is conducted, such as river corridor mapping, geomorphic unit mapping, habitat assessments, and hydraulic modeling of different flows.

A statewide map of Washingtons valley floodplains allows practioners to determine the best location for salmon recovery projects, whether it be floodplain restoration, riparian, side channel reconnection, etc.