Streamside Revegetation

Why is streamside Vegetation so Important?

The vegetation area adjacent to a stream is often referred to as a riparian buffer and limits the negative interactions between the stream and managed uplands. A properly functioning riparian buffer provides the water quality functions of shade to help maintain cool water temperatures, filtration of pollutants in runoff before they reach the stream, and protection against unhealthy levels of streambank erosion.

The necessary width of a riparian buffer varies by soil, slope, adjacent land use, size of stream and other factors needed to provide the water quality functions for each specific site. Ideal streamside vegetation covers approximately 90 percent of the soil surface and is composed of complex vegetation structure and diverse native species composition, including grasses, sedges, shrubs, herbaceous flowering plants, and deciduous and coniferous trees. A diverse and complex riparian area can support food and habitat for a wide variety of wildlife species.

native plant Guide for central oregon coast riparian buffers

Download and print this resource here.

Where Can I Find Native Plants Locally?

	Location
Lincoln Soil and Water Conservation District's Annual Native Plant Sale	Newport, OR
Seven Oaks Native Nursery	Albany, OR
Bear Valley Nursery	Lincoln City, OR
Blake's Coastal Nursery	Gleneden Beach, OR

Strategies for successful streamside revegetation

Companion planting and Clustering

The idea of companion planting is to select 3-5 species that, planted together, create a symbiotic relationship that increases the resiliency of each individual. This idea is exemplified in traditional Native American planting of the Three Sisters (corn, squash, and beans). Together the corn, squash, and beans work to provide a lattice, ground cover for moisture retention, and nitrogen to feed the growing plants.

This concept is the same in our natural environments. When revegetating an area, plant species that provide multiple levels of height, growth pattern (slow/fast, solitary/sprawling), and potential benefits to the soil, water, and wildlife.

After selecting 3-5 species for an area, it's time to get them in the ground. Planting 2-3 of the selected species together in a cluster is an efficient way to naturalize a space. During this process, use the size of your plants as an indicator for how close to plant together. Larger species such as trees must be farther apart from one another. However, a tree with a shrub or fern in close proximity benefits from soil stabilization and ground cover for water retention. Alternate species in your clusters as you plant to achieve diverse coverage.

Some examples of successful companion plantings, include:

Nootka Rose, Snowberry, Evergreen Huckleberry (Sunny)
Sword Fern, Snowberry, Mock Orange (Border Planting)
Fringecup, Piggy-back Plant, Western Columbine (Ground Cover)
Kinnikinnick, Coastal Strawberry, Sword Fern (Borders, Ground Cover)

diversify your plants, but keep it simple

In the same way that we rely on different food sources to keep us healthy, adding a variety of native plants (evergreen and deciduous trees, shrubs, perennials, ferns and groundcovers) to your riparian buffer supports food web diversity and habitat availability for terrestrial insects, birds, wildlife, and fish. For example, leaf litter from native species such as the big leaf maple are a high quality food source for aquatic insects such as stoneflies, which in turn are a food source for salmon and trout.

With so many choices of plants to choose from, it can quickly get complicated and costly to add plants to your streamside. Ideally, you'll want to keep as much of the existing native vegetation as possible, but you may need to make sure that certain existing plants don't outcompete with any new plantings. This means that you may need to provide some extra care (like trimming existing plants back) to ensure that your new plantings are able to obtain the resources they need for survival (water, light, and nutrients). When adding new plants to your streambank, we recommend narrowing your scope to diverse range of 10 different species (i.e. a mix of groundcover, shrubs, conifers, and deciduous trees rather than all of one category) and building from there.

keep invasive weeds out

Invasive weeds tend to create monocultures by displacing desirable vegetation, and often provide less shade, runoff filtering capacity, and stabilizing root mass than the native plants they replace. Lincoln SWCD can help you identify, remove, and prevent future infestation of invasive plants on your property, as well as help you choose ideal native plants to revegetate your streamside zone. For example, closest to the high water line of your streambank, prioritize the fastest growing and tallest plants, which will provide shade and minimize the reestablishment of invasives such as reed canary grass. Check out our Noxious Weed Control & Prevention program for more information.

create or use a planting plan

Coming up with a plan for your streamside can help you envision how your plantings will look once established. There are a wide variety of great resources out there to help you get started.

Check out these great example of streamside planting plans developed by Oregon State University Extension Service in Yamhill County.

Streamside plan #1 - Steeper slope, drier bank
Streamside plan # 2 - Average slope, mixed wet/dry
Streamside plan #3 - Gradual slope, wet garden

For more plant ideas, check out our table above or our ever-growing Native Plant Database.

The benefits of Riparian Buffers ON Agricultural Land

Riparian buffers are especially important on agricultural lands, as they can stabilize eroding streambanks with complex root systems, act as a filter for nutrients, pesticides, and animal waste from agricultural run-off, and even protect cropland from flood damage by reducing floodwater velocity.

Installing wildlife-friendly livestock exclusion fencing is an effective way to protect your newly planted riparian buffer improvement projects. Learn more about wildlife-friendly exclusion fencing on page 26 of our Rural Living Handbook. There are many different ways to make a fence wildlife-friendly and still suit your management needs. For technical assistance to determine which fence design would work best for your property, please contact us.