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THE FLUME ON THE MALL: BRINGING RIVER RESEARCH TO LIFE FOR THE PUBLIC NCED: Jeff Marr, NCED Engineer and Stream Restoration Project Manager Michal Tal, University of Minnesota PhD candidate in Geology & Geophysics Karen Campbell, Director of Higher Education and Knowledge Transfer Travis Sandland, Science Museum of Minnesota Earthscapes Teacher NCED Partners: Gordon Grant, Pacific Northwest Research Station, USDA Forest Service Karen Bennett, Watershed Program Manager, Siuslaw National Forest

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In 2005, the Forest Service celebrated its 100th anniversary and was featured at the annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Motivated by this opportunity to engage thousands of festival visitors with the agency’s role in river research, the Pacific Northwest Research Station and the National Center for Earth-surface Dynamics (NCED) designed a 3-part exhibit on various aspects of river dynamics that was assembled on the National Mall. One model was a 25 foot research flume designed for experiments in river planform dynamics. Two experiments were conducted in the 25 foot flume over the 12 day festival run. The first experiment investigated the response of a vegetated meandering channel to sediment pulsing; the second involved the response of a braided system to the introduction of log-jams and woody debris during floods. Visitors learned about channel patterns, system disturbance, and sediment transport and were able to see how data is collected in experimental studies.

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A second model was of the Glines Canyon Dam on the Elwha River in the Olympic National Park. This interactive model was based on a larger experimental model at NCED. Visitors learned about sediment storage in reservoirs upstream of dams and the considerations in dam-removal of how this sediment will be delivered to the downstream river environment. The third component in the exhibit was a large sand and concrete stream table sculpted onsite to illustrate watershed processes. Here, again, visitors had a hands-on opportunity to explore the meaning of floodplains and the issues associated with human development near rivers. Public enthusiasm for all three exhibits was overwhelming, with many visitors returning daily to follow experimental progress.

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Test assembly of 25 ft research flume on SAFL’s lower deck

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Fully assembled with camera racks and reading rails

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The flume in pieces, ready to be loaded for transport to DC

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Packing up

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Loaded up…

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….ready to go

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The empty tent on the Mall, awaiting flume assembly

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Flume pieces ready to be assembled in the tent

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Assembling the frame

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Folklife festival volunteers help with assembly

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The flume takes shape

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Volunteers help with assembly

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Flume and streamtable assembled

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Jeff Marr, NCED Engineer, assembling flume and stream table on the Mall

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Sand in place

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Sediment feeder

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Volunteers help spread sand

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Mountains sculpted in watershed stream table

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Braided unvegetated channels from above, taken by a flume-mounted camera

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Sowing alfalfa seeds

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Seeded flume

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Hanging the Elwha River poster

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View of the Mall from Flumeland

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Gordon Grant records topography measurements

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Dr. Gordon Grant, NCED collaborator, with a visitor on Opening Day

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Greeting Opening Day visitors

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Hanging floodlights for the cameras

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Flume with banner

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Use a pebble to vote: will the experiment yield a braided or a meandering river?

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Visitors vote that the river will ultimately braid

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Visitors learn about the vegetation experiment

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NCED graduate student Michal Tal with the stream table

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Travis Sandland instructs a visitor in sediment-feeding in the Glines Canyon model

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Michal with the dam removal model

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Visitors learn about removal of the Glines Canyon Dam on the Elwha River, using scaled version of NCED research model

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Gordon Grant and Travis Sandland measure the topography of the vegetated river.

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Visitors watch a flood on the vegetated river

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Narrating a flood…

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Gordon Grant with young scientists

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Travis Sandland observing river behavior with visitors

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June 30: the 100 year flood clears out the dying vegetation to make way for Experiment 2

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Gordon Grant narrated the 100 year flood

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Visitors filled the tent for the 100 year flood

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Visitors fill the bleachers to watch the first flood of Experiment 2

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Visitors learn about the behavior of log jams in rivers

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Gordon Grant explains the movement of logs in Experiment 2

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Gordon Grant recruits the next generation of fluvial geomorphologists

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Young visitors build communities in the watershed streamtable

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Visitors often lingered long after the flood subsided to learn more

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Young visitors add sediment to the Lake Mills delta

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Gordon Grant and Michal Tal

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Back on to the truck for the return trip

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Jeff Marr and “Trucker Tom” unloading at St. Anthony Falls Lab