Coarse woody debris and channel morphology interactions for undisturbed streams in southeast Alaska, U.S.A.

Abstract Coarse woody debris and channel morphology were evaluated for five low‐gradient streams that ranged from first to fourth order (0.7 to 55 km2 watershed area). Debris volumes were directly related to variations in bankfull width. Woody debris was associated with 65 to 75 per cent of all pools and the relative proportion of types of pools (i.e. plunge, lateral scour, etc.) varied with stream size. High variability in channel depths and widths was common. The results provide benchmark values of woody debris loadings and channel morphology for undisturbed coastal Alaskan stream systems.