Risk Assessment Protocol

Overview

The Risk Assessment Protocol is designed to identify and evaluate potential restoration risks to infrastructure and assess recovery potential in valley bottoms. The protocol consists of four key components:

Stream Assessment: This component evaluates LTPBR opportunities within streams.
Land Use Assessment: This step analyzes current and historical land use to gauge the recovery potential of restoration.
Infrastructure Risk Assessment: This focuses on identifying and assessing risks to infrastructure typically found in valley bottoms, such as buildings, roads, bridges, canals, and diversions.
Property Assessment: This final component assesses input and support for LTPBR from local property owners, managers, and stakeholders.

Risk-Assessment-Slide Example of risk assessment evaluation within the valley bottom after Tier 1 geomorphic units have been identified and mapped.

Protocol Summary

Attribute	Value
Name	Risk Assessment Protocol
Status	Experimental Grade
Version	1.0
XML URL	https://github.com/Riverscapes/RiverscapesXML/blob/master/QRiS/protocols/risk_assessment_protocol.xml
Citation	Burgert et al. 2025. Risk Assessment Protocol. Prepared by Anabranch Solutions.
Author	Zach Burgert

Layers & Metrics

Attribute	Type	Description
Stream Assessment	Linestring	evaluate LTPBR opportunity by assessing stream order, bank material, bed material, riparian vegetation health, and flood risk.
Land Use Assessment	Polygon	evaluate current and estimated historic land use of the valley bottom, as well as the departure of current riparian vegetation from historical conditions.
Infrastructure Risk Assessment	Point, Linestring, and Polygon	assign a categorical risk value to identified infrastructure within the valley bottom based on its location to the stream and other relevant factors, such as flood risk.
Property Assessment	Point	evaluate the willingness of the landowner or manager to permit LTPBR processes on their property, and gauge the general attitudes of local property owners and stakeholders towards LTPBR.

Risk-Assessment-Example Example of risk assessment protocol digitized in the valley bottom. Digitized layer extents and symbology are stored in the QRiS geopackage and can be displayed in any QGIS (.qgz) project.

Video Demonstartion

Layer Attributes

Stream Assessment
Land Use Assessment
Infrastructre Risk Assessment
Property Assessment

Layers: Stream Assessment

Field	Description	Values
Stream Order Wadeability	assessment of stream size for LTPBR	1st through 3rd Order Wadable Stream 3rd through 5th Order Wadable Stream 5th Order Non-Wadable Stream or Higher
Bank Material	assessment of bank erodibility by LTPBR structures	Loosely consolidated sediment and/or rock Moderately compacted sediment and/or rock compact sediment and/or rock
Bed Material	assessment of bed material for potential habitat	sand, silt or clay fine to coarse gravel small cobbles large cobbles or boulders bedrock
Riparian Vegetation	assessment of riparian vegetation for habitat or recovery potential	bare upland dominant (little to no riparian vegetation) mixture of riparian and upland species riparian dominant (little to no upland vegetation)
Flood Risk	assessment of stream for potential flood risks to LTPBR structures	evidence of small, frequent flood events evidence of medium-sized, infrequent flood events evidence of large, rare flood events
Opportunity Rating	numeric value for LTPBR opportunity of given stream on scale from 0 (least ideal stream locations for LTPBR) to 5 (most ideal stream locations for LTPBR)	NA

Layers: Land Use Assessment

Field	Description	Values
Current Land Use	contemporary land use of the valley bottom	undeveloped range or forest crop, pasture, or hay developed
Historic Land Use	estimated historic land use of the valley bottom	undeveloped range or forest crop, pasture, or hay developed
Estimated Riparian Vegetation Departure	assessment of riparian vegetation departure from historic conditions as result of changing land use	large departure from estimated historic conditions small departure from estimated historic conditions no change

Layers: Buildings, Roads, Bridges, Canals, Diversions, Culverts, Utility Lines, and Other

Field	Description	Values
Location	location within valley bottom	within valley bottom and adjacent to channel within valley bottom and nonadjacent to channel outside valley bottom
Flood Risk	potential risk of contemporary flooding to infrastructure	high risk medium risk low risk
LTPBR Risk	potential risk of infrastructure being impacted by LTPBR based on location and flood risk	high probability of being negatively impacted by LTPBR medium probability of being negatively impacted by LTPBR low probability of being negatively impacted by LTPBR

Additional Fields for Utility Lines

Fields	Description	Values
Utility Location	location of utility line	overhead underground surface level
Utility Type	type of utility line	gas electric water sewage telecommunictions

Layer: Property Assessment

Field	Description	Values
Channel and Floodplain Adjustments in Valley Bottom	willingness of landowner/manager to allow stream and floodplain adjustments in valley bottom	landowner/manager willing to allow stream and floodplain adjustment in all of valley bottom landowner/manager willing to allow stream and floodplain adjustment in some portions of valley bottom landowner/manager unwilling to allow stream and floodplain adjustment in valley bottom
Wood Accumulation and Beaver Activity in Valley Bottom	willingness of landowner/manager to allow wood accumulation and/or beaver activity in valley bottom	landowner/manager willing to allow dynamic processes landowner/manager willing to allow some processes landowner/manager unwilling to allow processes of wood accumulation and/or beaver activity
Adaptive Management	willingness of landowner/manager to participate in adaptive management	landowner/manager committed to follow up monitoring, maintenance, and treatments landowner/manager committed to follow up monitoring, maintenance, and treatments but limited resources restrict adaptive management landowner/manager wants single intervention; no follow up monitoring, maintenance, or treatments

Layer: Adjacent Landowner Assessment

Field	Description	Values
Support for LTPBR	local support of landowners towards LTPBR actions	large majority of adjacent landowners approve of LTPBR actions near their property some adjacent landowners approve of LTPBR actions near their property small minority of adjacent landowners approve of LTPBR actions near their property

Resources

Bennett et al. 2019

Chapter 3 – Planning for Low-Tech Process-Based Restoration from LTPBR Design Manual