Stream Restoration: Halting Disturbances, Assisted Recovery & Managed Recovery

Streams are dynamic components of living landscapes. Stream restoration, riparian restoration, and open land conservation are very connected. In coming years, stream and riparian restoration must be seen as an integral part of open land conservation in the USA, and vice versa. This book considers three areas where improvement is needed in stream restoration – planning for stream restoration when considering protecting riparian open land, including monitoring and evaluation of stream restoration in the objectives of a conservation plan, and formalising conservation management plans that can use stream restoration to adjust the trajectory of ecological change in protected streams and riparian areas. Furthermore, it is well-known that humans have been exploiting stream ecosystems for ages. The deterioration of the functioning of river ecosystems has prompted rehabilitation and restoration measures during the last 20 years, based on the assessment of the ecological integrity. This book addresses several restoration and rehabilitation programs that have been developed to restore stream ecosystems. The critical role of small woody debris in stream restoration is also examined, as well as the management of floodplains on the functioning of river ecosystems and stream restoration.