The objective of this study was to determine changes in stream channel morphology in response to 5 grazing treatments applied to 0.4 ha pastures and replicated on 3 intermittent streams at the San Joaquin Experimental Range in the central Sierra Nevada foothills of California. The authors detected no significant streambank erosion, resulting in the rejection of their hypothesis that grazing increases width in these bedrock limited stream channels. They detected a significant increase in depth in the control treatments. Additionally, they found a significant year effect on morphological parameters that included depth in their measurement or calculation, supporting their hypothesis that annual stream flow dynamics have a large effect on depth of the stream channels studied. The large year effect and weaker year x grazing effect on stream morphology confirms the need for long-term studies to separate natural variation in stream morphological parameters from those caused by land management activities.
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