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ASSESSING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF RESTORATION TECHNOLOGIES
Citation:
Striz*, E AND J R. Williams*. ASSESSING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF RESTORATION TECHNOLOGIES. Presented at ReVA-MAIA Conference, Prussia, PA, May 13 - 15, 2003.
Impact/Purpose:
To inform the public.
Description:
Numerous stream and riparian restoration projects are being undertaken across the nation at a variety of scales and for disparate reasons. Unfortunately, there are very few studies associated with these restoration efforts which provide a consistent and practical methodology to evaluate the effectiveness of the restoration definitively in terms of hydrological, biological, or water quality endpoints. In addition, there has been almost no effort to assess the non-monetary and economic benefits of such restorations, largely as a consequence of the lack of well-defined metrics of restoration success. Clearly, if public policy is to address the need to pursue stream and riparian restoration on a wide scale, it is critical to provide metrics to evaluate its effectiveness. In addition, it is essential that these metrics be amenable to valuation, which can be utilized to provide the basis for cost/benefit analysis necessary to prioritize restoration efforts. The eco-restoration program in NRMRL has recently begun a research effort to evaluate the effectiveness of stream restoration at two locations, Mine Bank Run in Baltimore County, Maryland and Big Creek in the Great Basin of Nevada. These projects are intensive field studies to measure a complete suite of hydrological, biological and water quality metrics before and after stream restoration to assess the success of restoration techniques. In addition, NRMRL is beginning an effort to provide economic valuation of restoration cost/benefit by partnering with the Canaan Valley Institute (CVI), a non-profit organization that fosters local decision-making in support of sustainable resource use and management in the Mid-Atlantic Highlands. Given these efforts, it is proposed to undertake further research to identify the critical hydrological, biological, and water quality metrics which can also be used to facilitate the non-monetary and economic valuation of restoration cost/benefit. Because stream restoration occurs at so many different scales and settings using so many different techniques, it will be necessary to expand the number of restoration sites which will be evaluated beyond the current NRMRL projects. In the Mid-Atlantic Highland, there are currently six restoration projects underway or to be undertaken in the future. This research effort would partner with CVI, to gain access to these sites to evaluate restoration success. Throughout this effort, the selection of these indices and methods will be made keeping in mind the need to facilitate the valuation of indices to enable the cost/benefit analysis of restoration. An outcome of this research will be to identify metrics which are accessible and consistent and provide the greatest evidence of restoration success and a basis for economic valuation. Metrics and indices which are highly variable and do not offer a consistent measure of restoration success will be relegated to a lower import.