A mountain stream in Nevada with a long history of grazing was used to determine the effects of the introduction of mine spoils and the removal of grazing on channel morphology and substrate composition. Due to the non-linear nature of the data, Kernel regression was used to analyze trends in measurements collected along a 6.4 km stream reach in 1989 (without grazing exclosure) and 1992 (three years since the grazing exclosure was built). Based on the data collected, the authors determined that introducing mine spoils into the stream had less of an impact on riparian function than grazing, and that the recovery of the channel from past grazing events would take longer than 3 years. There were no large flooding or high-flow events during this study, which may have altered the results when compared to the natural climactic conditions of the area. More research needs to be done to determine the cumulative effects of both grazing exclosures and the introduction of mine spoils on riparian function.
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