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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Oxford, Mississippi » National Sedimentation Laboratory » Water Quality and Ecology Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #72412
Title: HABITAT ENHANCEMENT (CHAPTER 4)

Author
item BROOKES, ANDREW - NATL. RIVERS AUTHORITY UK
item Knight, Scott
item Shields Jr, Fletcher

Submitted to: River Channel Restoration
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/15/1996
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Stream habitat restoration has recently received a great deal of attention. Restoration usually requires knowledge of a wide range of subjects, including biology, hydrology, and engineering. Because stream restoration is so complicated a clear set of guidelines is needed to help river and stream managers plan, design and conduct stream restoration projects. The purpose of this chapter is to briefly outline guiding principles for use of instream structures, specifically for habitat improvement. This book chapter will provide the necessary information project manager need to plan, design, implement and evaluate stream habitat restoration and will directly benefit managers from the US Army Corps of Engineers, State and Federal wildlife and fisheries, and natural resource agencies. 

Technical Abstract: Interest in developing holistic stream habitat rehabilitation approaches that integrate varied instream habitat improvement methods to repair damaged or degraded stream ecosystems have recently received a great deal of attention. These multi- purpose, multi-use approaches require ecosystem-scale tactics that incorporate instream modifications targeting a wide range of features including forage organisms, water quality and quantity, and stream floodplain interaction as well as game fishes. Such a holistic approach necessarily involves disciplines other than biology to deal with such issues as flood water conveyance, channel morphology, sediment erosion and transport, hydraulics and catchment hydrology. The purpose of this chapter is to briefly outline guiding principles for use of instream structures, specifically for habitat improvement. These guidelines include a planning stage, a feasibility evaluation, a design phase, project implementation, and monitoring, audit and evaluation.