PARENT SESSION
Oral Session 12: Restoration Ecology I: Streams and Wetlands.
Presiding: M Wu
Monday, August 2, 8:00 AM to 11:30 AM, Meeting Room D 133.
Riverine corridor restoration: Conclusions drawn from existing databases.
Follstad Shah, Jennifer*,1, Alexander, Gretchen2, Hassett, Brooke3, Sudduth, Elizabeth4, Bernhardt, Emily3, 5, Palmer, Margaret3, 5, Allan, J. David2, 5, Dahm, Cliff1, 1 University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM2 University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI3 University of Maryland, College Park, MD4 University of Georgia, Athens, GA5 National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, Santa Barbara, CA
ABSTRACT- Streams, rivers and their floodplains have experienced severe human-induced alterations. Species extinctions, habitat degradation, and declining water quality and quantity are of such urgent concern that restoration efforts are now a major focus. Estimation of restoration success is difficult due to disparate sources of project evaluation and reporting. The National Riverine Restoration Science Synthesis (NRRSS), a joint National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) and American Rivers initiative that involves a large interdisciplinary team of scientists and engineers, represents an effort to evaluate existing databases of riverine corridor restoration. Project questions of interest include: What kinds of restoration activities, at what scale, and by what means have taken place? How have goals been set and measured? To what extent have adaptive management practices been adopted? To what extent have scientists formed partnerships with restoration practitioners in order to use restoration projects as opportunities for scientific experimentation? Participants have assembled databases from sources at both national and regional scales into a single data set that spans multiple ecoregions and stream sizes. Here we report which federal agencies, foundations, and non-profit organizations maintain databases of restoration projects across the country. Information we draw from these databases include: the number of projects that have been conducted and their common goals, the median scale and cost of restoration, and the extent to which restoration project effectiveness can be assessed. These trends are compared to those found through analyses of databases that are regional in scope. Finally, we provide ideas for improved data management of riverine corridor restoration that would better address pressing scientific questions.
Key words: river, metadata, restoration, riparian