Sedimentological and Biological Analyses on Hobble Creek Prior to Restoration
type: CreativeWork
description: Hobble Creek is one of several inflowing streams and rivers into Utah Lake, Utah, USA. Historically, June sucker (Chasmistes liorus), a federally listed endemic fish, spawned up all the major inflowing streams and rivers but is now limited to just the Provo River. The State of Utah has recently proposed restoring the lower reaches of Hobble Creek for additional spawning and rearing needs. This restoration effort will likely involve removal of migration barriers, re-aligning the stream, and removing existing levees that prevent floodplain access. These changes have raised several questions that this study aims to answer. First, what are the sediment transport rates under current flow conditions in Hobble Creek, and how well do various predictive models match the actual rates? Secondly, assuming a successful introduction of adult June sucker into the Hobble Creek system, will the existing flow regime be capable of transporting the fry to an area adequate for successful population growth? Four bedload predictive models were used to create sediment rating curves for flows typically found in Hobble Creek: the Meyer-Peter, Muller equation (MPM), Wilcock's two parameter model, Rosgen's Pagosa reference curve, and Bathurst's Phase 2 equation. Each were used and compared to data obtained on Hobble Creek during the spring 2006 snowmelt runoff season. Results show that the uncalibrated MPM formula over predicted bedload rates by several orders of magnitude, while the Wilcock model sometimes performed more accurately, but was also prone to inaccuracies greater than an order of magnitude. The Rosgen and Bathurst predicted rates were consistently within an order of magnitude of observed rates. Areas of optimal rearing potential were determined by separating the stream-lake interface into four zones: dense vegetation, sparse vegetation, open lake, and within the creek. These four zones were analyzed for rearing potential based on food resources, temperature patterns and existing s…
abstract: Hobble Creek is one of several inflowing streams and rivers into Utah Lake, Utah, USA. Historically, June sucker (Chasmistes liorus), a federally listed endemic fish, spawned up all the major inflowing streams and rivers but is now limited to just the Provo River. The State of Utah has recently proposed restoring the lower reaches of Hobble Creek for additional spawning and rearing needs. This restoration effort will likely involve removal of migration barriers, re-aligning the stream, and removing existing levees that prevent floodplain access. These changes have raised several questions that this study aims to answer. First, what are the sediment transport rates under current flow conditions in Hobble Creek, and how well do various predictive models match the actual rates? Secondly, assuming a successful introduction of adult June sucker into the Hobble Creek system, will the existing flow regime be capable of transporting the fry to an area adequate for successful population growth? Four bedload predictive models were used to create sediment rating curves for flows typically found in Hobble Creek: the Meyer-Peter, Muller equation (MPM), Wilcock's two parameter model, Rosgen's Pagosa reference curve, and Bathurst's Phase 2 equation. Each were used and compared to data obtained on Hobble Creek during the spring 2006 snowmelt runoff season. Results show that the uncalibrated MPM formula over predicted bedload rates by several orders of magnitude, while the Wilcock model sometimes performed more accurately, but was also prone to inaccuracies greater than an order of magnitude. The Rosgen and Bathurst predicted rates were consistently within an order of magnitude of observed rates. Areas of optimal rearing potential were determined by separating the stream-lake interface into four zones: dense vegetation, sparse vegetation, open lake, and within the creek. These four zones were analyzed for rearing potential based on food resources, temperature patterns and existing s…
author: Brown, Jaron Michael
language: English
keywords: sediment transport, stream restoration, Hobble Creek, Civil and Environmental Engineering
date modified: 2026-07-24T01:29:03Z
provider: Brigham Young University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Brigham Young University - Provo