River and Stream Restoration

Catalog description

Rivers and streams are complex ecosystems which have interconnected geologic, geomorphologic, chemical and biological underpinnings. As the demands of human populations have increased over the past several centuries, rivers and streams have often been pushed beyond their ability to maintain the dynamic equilibrium inherent to the system. In recent decades, in an attempt to restore some of the values and functions to these systems, river and stream restoration has emerged as a multi-billion-dollar industry. This course will cover the definitions of river and stream restoration, discuss the planning process associated with solid restoration efforts, present restoration techniques, discuss environmental flows as restoration measures, present commonly applied design concepts and consider how uncertainty, monitoring, and adaptive management may be applied to river and stream restoration efforts.