PARENT SESSION
Organized Oral Session 44: Linking the practice of stream restoration with the science of stream ecology
Organizer(s): PM Mayer, J Williams, and S Kaushal
Thursday, August 11, 8:00 AM - 11:30 AM, Meeting Room 511 C, Level 5, Palais des congrès de Montréal

Status and trends of stream restoration in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

Hassett, Brooke^*,1, Palmer, Margaret¹, Bernhardt, Emily², ¹ University of Maryland, College Park, MD² Duke University, Durham, NC

ABSTRACT- River restoration has become an increasingly common management approach in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, with an estimated >$400 million invested in restoring rivers within the basin since 1990. However, the details and overall effectiveness of these projects has not yet been evaluated at the watershed scale. As a regional node of the National Riverine Restoration Science Synthesis (NRRSS) working group, we compiled data on >4700 river restoration projects within the Chesapeake watershed to examine where restoration dollars are being spent, what issues are motivating this restoration, and what approaches are being used to reach restoration goals. We then conducted standardized interviews for a 48-project subset of the database to collect more detailed data regarding project design, monitoring and evaluation. The vast majority of projects within the region are implemented to improve water quality and manage riparian zones. Although the Chesapeake Bay watershed has an extremely high density of restoration activity relative to other regions of the U.S., only 5.4% of projects in this region indicated any associated monitoring occurred. Readily available project records typically do not include enough information to understand what actions were performed, or to evaluate whether these actions were successful at accomplishing local or regional watershed goals. Tributary strategies coordinated between states and management agencies and an increased investment in monitoring project outcomes would facilitate evaluating the effectiveness of different restoration approaches, future planning, and prioritizing efforts to improve the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed.

Key words: restoration, river, monitoring, Chesapeake Bay