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Author: Molly Van Appledorn Publisher: ISBN: Category : Electronic dissertations Languages : en Pages : 149
Book Description
The ability of riparian buffers to filter undesirable nutrients from upland sources has long been recognized as an important ecosystem service for maintaining or improving water quality, and as a result, many land management strategies have been built around the preservation or restoration of buffer zones. Newly derived flow-path metrics have shown great promise as a way to assess riparian buffer function at the watershed scale but a thorough investigation of metric performance was necessary. The goals of this study were to: 1) test the independence of flow-path metrics from traditional metrics using a spatially extensive, independent sample of watersheds, 2) evaluate the effects of stream map resolution on riparian characterization and the ability to predict nitrate discharges, and 3) explore whether nutrient retention estimates may improve the performance of flow-path metrics. The results of this study validated initial findings that flow-path metrics provided more flexible, detailed, and independent measures of land cover patterns compared to traditional methods. Buffer characterization by flow-path metrics was affected by stream map resolution, as were models using metrics to relate nitrate discharge to watershed land cover patterns. Retention-informed metrics showed promise in improving the ability to relate nitrate-nitrogen discharges to measures of riparian function, especially in certain physiographic contexts. A thorough understanding of flow-path metrics and how they are affected by sampling regime, stream map resolution, and estimates of retention is necessary toward the development of a tool useful to land use managers.
Author: Molly Van Appledorn Publisher: ISBN: Category : Electronic dissertations Languages : en Pages : 149
Book Description
The ability of riparian buffers to filter undesirable nutrients from upland sources has long been recognized as an important ecosystem service for maintaining or improving water quality, and as a result, many land management strategies have been built around the preservation or restoration of buffer zones. Newly derived flow-path metrics have shown great promise as a way to assess riparian buffer function at the watershed scale but a thorough investigation of metric performance was necessary. The goals of this study were to: 1) test the independence of flow-path metrics from traditional metrics using a spatially extensive, independent sample of watersheds, 2) evaluate the effects of stream map resolution on riparian characterization and the ability to predict nitrate discharges, and 3) explore whether nutrient retention estimates may improve the performance of flow-path metrics. The results of this study validated initial findings that flow-path metrics provided more flexible, detailed, and independent measures of land cover patterns compared to traditional methods. Buffer characterization by flow-path metrics was affected by stream map resolution, as were models using metrics to relate nitrate discharge to watershed land cover patterns. Retention-informed metrics showed promise in improving the ability to relate nitrate-nitrogen discharges to measures of riparian function, especially in certain physiographic contexts. A thorough understanding of flow-path metrics and how they are affected by sampling regime, stream map resolution, and estimates of retention is necessary toward the development of a tool useful to land use managers.
Author: National Research Council Publisher: National Academies Press ISBN: 0309172683 Category : Nature Languages : en Pages : 569
Book Description
In 1997, New York City adopted a mammoth watershed agreement to protect its drinking water and avoid filtration of its large upstate surface water supply. Shortly thereafter, the NRC began an analysis of the agreement's scientific validity. The resulting book finds New York City's watershed agreement to be a good template for proactive watershed management that, if properly implemented, will maintain high water quality. However, it cautions that the agreement is not a guarantee of permanent filtration avoidance because of changing regulations, uncertainties regarding pollution sources, advances in treatment technologies, and natural variations in watershed conditions. The book recommends that New York City place its highest priority on pathogenic microorganisms in the watershed and direct its resources toward improving methods for detecting pathogens, understanding pathogen transport and fate, and demonstrating that best management practices will remove pathogens. Other recommendations, which are broadly applicable to surface water supplies across the country, target buffer zones, stormwater management, water quality monitoring, and effluent trading.
Author: National Research Council Publisher: National Academies Press ISBN: 0309082951 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 449
Book Description
The Clean Water Act (CWA) requires that wetlands be protected from degradation because of their important ecological functions including maintenance of high water quality and provision of fish and wildlife habitat. However, this protection generally does not encompass riparian areasâ€"the lands bordering rivers and lakesâ€"even though they often provide the same functions as wetlands. Growing recognition of the similarities in wetland and riparian area functioning and the differences in their legal protection led the NRC in 1999 to undertake a study of riparian areas, which has culminated in Riparian Areas: Functioning and Strategies for Management. The report is intended to heighten awareness of riparian areas commensurate with their ecological and societal values. The primary conclusion is that, because riparian areas perform a disproportionate number of biological and physical functions on a unit area basis, restoration of riparian functions along America's waterbodies should be a national goal.
Author: Publisher: ISBN: Category : Languages : en Pages :
Book Description
The physical parameters of past experimental riparian buffer studies were used to develop a riparian buffer classification framework (RBCF) that uses high resolution remotely sensed data to identify the physical parameters of a riparian buffer and assign an estimate of total suspended solids (TSS) removal efficiency. Topographic data with a contour interval of 2 feet, color digital orthophotography with 1-foot resolution, and hydrography data covering a 1.8 square mile study area located within the city limits of Raleigh, North Carolina were utilized to test the RBCF. A cartographic model was developed to prepare each data layer for analysis. Applying the RBCF within the framework of the cartographic model produced highly detailed maps of existing riparian areas, and also provided an estimate of a riparian buffer's efficiency in removing TSS from stormwater runoff. In this study, riparian buffers are identified through remote sensing at spatial scales of sufficient detail to determine regulated widths and also to examine the separate management zones within a buffer. Automated processing techniques for remotely sensed data, used in combination with specific resource classification schemes such as the RBCF will enable the assessment and analysis of site-specific conditions at county-wide scales.
Author: National Research Council Publisher: National Academies Press ISBN: 0309133025 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 348
Book Description
Recognizing the importance of wetland protection, the Bush administration in 1988 endorsed the goal of "no net loss" of wetlands. Specifically, it directed that filling of wetlands should be avoided, and minimized when it cannot be avoided. When filling is permitted, compensatory mitigation must be undertaken; that is, wetlands must be restored, created, enhanced, and, in exceptional cases, preserved, to replace the permitted loss of wetland area and function, such as water quality improvement within the watershed. After more than a dozen years, the national commitment to "no net loss" of wetlands has been evaluated. This new book explores the adequacy of science and technology for replacing wetland function and the effectiveness of the federal program of compensatory mitigation in accomplishing the nation's goal of clean water. It examines the regulatory framework for permitting wetland filling and requiring mitigation, compares the mitigation institutions that are in use, and addresses the problems that agencies face in ensuring sustainability of mitigated wetlands over the long term. Gleaning lessons from the mixed results of mitigation efforts to date, the book offers 10 practical guidelines for establishing and monitoring mitigated wetlands. It also recommends that federal, state, and local agencies undertake specific institutional reforms. This book will be important to anyone seeking a comprehensive understanding of the "no net loss" issue: policy makers, regulators, environmental scientists, educators, and wetland advocates.
Author: Robert J. Naiman Publisher: Elsevier ISBN: 0080470688 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 445
Book Description
This book describes the underlying water conditions and geologies that support viable riparia, illustrates the ecological characteristics of riparia, and discusses how riparia are used by human cultures as well as how riparia can be used to sustain environmental quality. In recent years riparian management has been widely implemented as a means of improving fisheries, water quality, and habitat for endangered species. This book provides the basic knowledge necessary to implement successful, long-term management and rehabilitation programs. - Treats riparian patterns & processes in a holistic perspective, from ecological components to societal activities - Contains over 130 illustrations and photos that summarize this complex ecological system - Synthesizes the information from more than 6,000 professional articles - Sidebars provide a look into ongoing research that is at the frontiers of riparian ecology and management
Author: National Research Council Publisher: National Academies Press ISBN: 0309210828 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 258
Book Description
The Chesapeake Bay is North America's largest and most biologically diverse estuary, as well as an important commercial and recreational resource. However, excessive amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment from human activities and land development have disrupted the ecosystem, causing harmful algae blooms, degraded habitats, and diminished populations of many species of fish and shellfish. In 1983, the Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) was established, based on a cooperative partnership among the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the state of Maryland, and the commonwealths of Pennsylvania and Virginia, and the District of Columbia, to address the extent, complexity, and sources of pollutants entering the Bay. In 2008, the CBP launched a series of initiatives to increase the transparency of the program and heighten its accountability and in 2009 an executive order injected new energy into the restoration. In addition, as part of the effect to improve the pace of progress and increase accountability in the Bay restoration, a two-year milestone strategy was introduced aimed at reducing overall pollution in the Bay by focusing on incremental, short-term commitments from each of the Bay jurisdictions. The National Research Council (NRC) established the Committee on the Evaluation of Chesapeake Bay Program Implementation for Nutrient Reduction in Improve Water Quality in 2009 in response to a request from the EPA. The committee was charged to assess the framework used by the states and the CBP for tracking nutrient and sediment control practices that are implemented in the Chesapeake Bay watershed and to evaluate the two-year milestone strategy. The committee was also to assess existing adaptive management strategies and to recommend improvements that could help CBP to meet its nutrient and sediment reduction goals. The committee did not attempt to identify every possible strategy that could be implemented but instead focused on approaches that are not being implemented to their full potential or that may have substantial, unrealized potential in the Bay watershed. Because many of these strategies have policy or societal implications that could not be fully evaluated by the committee, the strategies are not prioritized but are offered to encourage further consideration and exploration among the CBP partners and stakeholders.
Author: Molly Van Appledorn
Author: Molly Van Appledorn
Author: National Research Council
Author: National Research Council
Author: 
Author: Kevin McGarigal
Author: National Research Council
Author: Robert J. Naiman
Author: David J. Welsch
Author: National Research Council
Author: Lorraine M. Herson-Jones