Can bioengineering structures made of willow cuttings trap sediment in eroded marly gullies in a Mediterranean mountainous climate?

In the Southern French Alps, high sediment yields from marly catchments cause socio-economic and ecological problems downstream. Bioengineering structures made of willow cuttings could be used for efficient and sustainable sediment trapping in eroded gullies in order to decrease sediment yield at their outlets. However, little has been done to quantitatively assess the efficiency of such structures for trapping sediment or to improve their performance. The objectives of this study were to analyze the ability of bioengineering structures to enhance vegetation development and sediment trapping in marly gullies in the Southern French Alps, under a mountainous and Mediterranean climate. For five years after the restoration operations, we monitored 101 bioengineering structures using willow (Salix) cuttings, including 55 brush layers on wooden sills (BL) and 46 brush layers with brush mats on wooden sills (BLM), 1.2 m wide and 2 m long, installed on the floors of eight experimental marly gullies. The results showed that the ultimate survival of willow cuttings can be assessed after three years. Gully size and aspect appeared to be the most important factors influencing resprouting rates. By avoiding south-oriented gullies and those smaller than 1000 m2, 75% survival rates per structure may be achieved. The results also showed that BL trapped 0.18 m3 yr− 1 of sediment per structure on average and BLM 0.21 m3 yr− 1, but potential maximum values may reach 0.28 and 0.40 m3 yr− 1 over one year on BL and BLM, respectively. Therefore, bioengineering structures made of willow cuttings can be used to trap significant quantities of sediment from the first year onwards and efficiently restore eroded marly gullies under a Mediterranean mountainous climate. It also provides design criteria to guide future restoration actions and future investigations in the Southern French Alps.