The Importance of Riparian Forests & Streams

Riparian Areas

DEFINITION: A riparian area is a 3-dimensional ecotone of interaction that includes the terrestrial & aquatic ecosystems, that extends down into the groundwater, up above the canopy, outward across the floodplain, up the near slopes that drain to the water, laterally into the terrestrial ecosystem, and along the water course at a variable width.  

• Riparian areas include some of our most productive farm and forest lands.  These are also places where most of us live, work & play, and offer the most diverse habitats for wildlife.  
• The probability of a function being riparian increases as we move closer to the waters edge.  The waters edge may be of a stream, pond, vernal pool, lake, bog, or wetland.  
• The probability of materials and energy influencing a riparian zone increases depending upon slope, vegetation (age and size), geology, soil, historical and current land use.
• Figure 1 illustrates how as we move closer to a stream, we are more likely to affect ecological functions around the stream or water body.
  
  

Figure 1.  Probablity of Being Riparian

Ecological Services (Functions) Provided by Forests in Riparian Areas

Again, riparian areas provide the link between land and water.  Forests in these areas provide a healthy link between land and water because they significantly influence the flow of material, energy, and nutrients between the 2.  These links can be referred otherwise as Ecological Services. 

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