PARENT SESSION
Poster Session 35: Restoration Ecology.

Thursday, August 5 Presentations from 5:00 PM to 6:30 PM, Exhibit Hall A 1.

Decision tool for riparian ecosystem management in the Mid-Atlantic Highlands.

Johnston, John^*,, Parmar, Rajbir, Wolfe, Kurt, Kinder, Paul, Newland, Jennifer, DeMoss, Tom, Kemlage, Don,

ABSTRACT- In the Canaan Valley Highlands of the Mid-Atlantic (USA), riparian zones have been identified as a critical watershed management tool not only for the ecosystem services they provide but also for the potential socioeconomic growth from environmental investment and job creation. The Canaan Valley Institute (CVI) has partnered with the US Environmental Protection Agency to develop a watershed decision tool that evaluates riparian management scenarios via changes in instream habitat quality and aquatic community productivity and stability. The decision tool incorporates expert knowledge, models of system/biotic response and supporting data into a single interface for trade-off evaluation and scenario development. Fisheries endpoints considered include indicator species as well as sport fishes such as trout and smallmouth bass.

Key words: watershed management, tradeoff analysis, riparian zones, aquatic ecosystems