Mapping Fluvial Geomorphic Change: The Clark Fork River at the Former Milltown Dam Site

Remote sensing offers important tools which can be utilized to study fluvial geomorphic change among other applications. In this study, the goal was to map changes in the main and secondary channels of the Clark Fork River at the former Milltown Dam. Due to decades of human modification, large amounts of sediment are being transported, eroded, and deposited in this “restored” reach of the Clark Fork. Using Landsat imagery available in the USGS Earth Explorer archive, the research goal was to analyze changes between when the dam was first removed (2011) and present (2017). Imagery were from the same time of year and approximately the same rate of flow. ArcGIS and TerrSet software were utilized to prepare and analyze the images. Vegetation indices were used to identify the channel changes and predict where new channels may develop. This research successfully mapped change within this study are and could be utilized in other watersheds