Recent in Japan’s rivers, decades of river regulation has caused fixation of river courses and degradation of the riverbed and has led to the development of raised floodplains covered by riparian forests such as willow, bamboo, and black locust trees. The riparian forests are interfering with flood control and conservation of disturbance-adapted riparian ecosystems. However little is known about the habitat characteristics and dynamics of riparian forests subject to hydrological regimes and geomorphological properties. In this study, we investigated the relationship between elevations of river channels and habitats of riparian forests using LiDAR elevation data and woody vegetation data from the national census on river environments. Our results showed that the area of riparian forests increased with higher channel elevation. It is suggested that riparian forest grows best at a greater elevation above the river water level because rising floodplain elevation reduces the frequency and intensity of flooding duration of inundation. The stable environments can allow to colonizing and growing riparian forests.