Riparian plant communities occur on floodplains beside lakes, streams and rivers under particular soil and light conditions. Typically they occur as narrow strips, but they can vary from less than a meter wide to well over 100 meters wide near our largest rivers.

Some BC riparian ecosystems are found in gullies and canyons, but most are found in floodplains. Floodplain riparian ecosystems include gravel bars; areas dominated by herbs, shrubs or a mixture of the two; and stands of young deciduous or more mature stands of mixed deciduous and coniferous trees. It is not at all uncommon that a riparian area might contain a mixture of plant community types. For example, a riparian ecosystem along a medium sized river might include gravel bars with sparse vegetation, with a fringe of willow and young deciduous saplings that blends into a larger area of cottonwood trees with a thick under-story of wild rose.

Riparian ecosystems are areas of transition between freshwater and upland habitats and they fulfill important ecosystem services, providing bank stability, reducing shoreline erosion, regulating the run-off of rainfall and filtering out sediments. Riparian ecosystems are also recognized as places disproportionately important for wildlife. Among other reasons, this is because riparian ecosystems tend to be structurally diverse (they have a layered canopy with standing dead trees as well as deadfall on the forest floor) – this means that they offer a high concentration of varied micro-habitats in a relatively small area. In addition, riparian ecosystems tend to be very biologically productive (i.e. plants tend to grow very well near freshwater, and other organisms reliant on plants are naturally drawn to areas with lots of plants) and, can serve as movement corridors for animals that prefer to have lots of plants for cover when going from a to b.

Examples of wildlife that use or are reliant on riparian areas in BC include a myriad of birds (including the western screech owl, yellow breasted chat and Lewis’s woodpecker, all of which are species at risk in Canada); elk; beaver; silver-haired bats; rubber boa and red-legged frogs (these last two are also federally listed species at risk). Riparian ecosystems are also of critical importance to fish, as they help to keep temperature sensitive streams cool; provide nutrients via litter fall and insect inputs; and are sources of large woody material that provide important structural features in rivers, streams, ponds and lakes.

Riparian ecosystems have been heavily impacted by agricultural, industrial and residential developments; hydro-electric power projects; and water management regimes. According to the Sensitive Ecosystem Inventory, climate change may also have severe consequences for some riparian ecosystems.

Individuals can protect riparian ecosystems by:

  • Not building too close to stream and lakeshores;
  • Protecting riparian areas from deforestation;
  • Fencing off or otherwise restricting the access of livestock to riparian areas so as to preserve under-story plant communities;
  • Not supporting the channelization or burying of wild streams and rivers and instead supporting the use of set-back dyking;
  • Supporting watershed restoration efforts that limit erosion and encourage re-vegetation; and
  • Managing water so that riparian areas dependent on periodic saturation and flooding are allowed to be inundated.

For more information on riparian ecosystems in British Columbia we encourage you to visit these websites:

Riparian Areas