The Cycles of Sediment

A vast, complex system of water cuts through the Ojai Valley like a kingsnake through a bunchgrass meadow. Meandering and weaving through the hillsides, its channels are both shaped and guided by the land. Sediment grains, too small and irrelevant to notice, drift through the system, their individual destinies adding to the personality of the watershed. This dance between water and sediment embodies the river’s character, almost artful in its innumerable expressions. What does it mean for a small granule to rely on the drifts of such incomprehensible power as moving water? What is it like to witness the cyclical, meandering nature of a river from inside the river itself? It isn’t a linear answer, but a kaleidoscope of possibilities in which energies are converging. To envision the watershed as a vivid quilt sown with patchworks of textured grains, that are individually brilliant and yet cohesively lush, is to understand life as a tessellation with layers of beauty. 

Restoration of our watershed requires proper sediment distribution throughout the system. In order to adequately provide nutrients to plants and macroinvertebrate communities, which are the basis of many ecological webs, silts and sands must be properly facilitated and deposited. When channelization occurs through establishment of non-native vegetation such as giant reed (Arundo donax), sedimentation rates are skewed and nutrient cycling is drastically limited. Removal of these noxious plants that have a chokehold on our watershed will increase the flow of sediment throughout the system and ultimately aid in the recovery of riparian ecosystems.

OVLC’s work to eradicate species like giant reed could not be happening during a more critical time. In combination with the Matilija Dam removal efforts, restoring the watershed and encouraging proper channel morphology to accept the wide distribution of sediment loads will greatly improve the suitability of our waterways for various organisms like the Southern California steelhead trout, red-legged frog, pacific lamprey, and western pond turtle. 

Martin Schenker, Restoration Field Crew Manager