WASR 8980: River Restoration Seminar

Kyle McKay US Army Corps of Engineers

Athens, Georgia Forestry, Building 4, Room 115

skmckay@uga.edu

• Name

• Where are you from?

• Department / College

• Background / Professional interests

• What rivers do you love?

• Why are you enrolled in this class?

• Is there something particular you’d like to gain from this course?

Course Overview • Course website: www.hydrology.uga.edu/mckay/8980.htm

• Course Objective: Become familiar with the general context of the $1B / year stream

restoration industry. – Overview of stream restoration – Alternative disciplinary viewpoints – Key restoration techniques and methods

• Course Format

– Read papers each week on a focal subject in river restoration – Short lecture on the subject (i.e., less than 15 minutes) – Paper discussion

• A few notes: – The course doesn’t succeed without your engagement and discussion. – The schedule and reading assignments are a proposal. Feel free to suggest alternatives!

• Responsibilities and Expectations

– 60% - Read all assigned papers and participate actively in discussions. – 20% - Lead discussion on a minimum of 4 papers over the course of the semester (groups welcome). – 20% - Writing assignment

Writing Assignment

• 500-2,000 word non-traditional writing assignment.

• Open to ideas on format and content – A short position paper on topics such as: success or failure of

mitigation, socio-economic v. ecological motivations, or novel funding mechanisms for restoration.

– A letter to an elected official. – A book review in the style of a peer-reviewed journal. – An opinion-editorial (op-ed) for an appropriate popular press outlet. – A published discussion of a journal article on stream restoration. – A detailed case study report on the success (or failure) of an

ecosystem restoration project or state/regional/national program.

Topic 1: Ecological and societal demands for freshwater

• Global demand for freshwater

– Spreadsheet: Household water use

• Freshwater biodiversity (crisis)

– Video: The last dragons

– Map: That State of the World’s Rivers

Human demand for freshwater

• Municipal use

• Industrial use

• Agriculture

• Energy

• Navigation

Figures: USGS (2009), Plant Vogtle (Glynn Environmental)

• Waste assimilation

• Recreation

• Aesthetic

• Cultural

• …

Global freshwater supply

• 54% of accessible runoff is in use (Postel et al. 1996)!

• Consumptive v. Non-consumptive use

Water management infrastructure

• Withdrawals & canals

• Dams, reservoirs, and ponds (next slide)

• Levees

• Groundwater pumps

Land of 10,000 lakes reservoirs

Size Number Percent

Small 24,613 97

Medium 736 3

Large 13 < 1

All Sizes 25,362 100

Figures: Amber Ignatius (UGA Geography)

Household water use

• How do we use freshwater at home?

• Where does freshwater in Athens come from?

• How much water do you use?

Freshwater Biodiversity

• Rivers, lakes and wetlands are unbelievably speciose

• Highly endemic species

Eukaryotes Vertebrates

Strayer and Dugeon (2010, JNABS)

Bars = Described Species Lines = Imperiled Species

Biodiversity Hotspots

www.feow.org

Georgia’s freshwater biodiversity

• More than 325 species of fish occur primarily in the freshwaters of Georgia, including 8 federally listed species, 57 state listed species, and at least 8 endemic species.

– Colorado River Basin has 25 species of fish.

– Columbia River Basin has 33 species of fish.

– Etowah River Basin has 76 species of fish.

Biodiversity Crisis

Strayer and Dugeon (2010, JNABS)

What is causing these declines?

Collen et al. (2014, Global Ecol Biogeogr) Strayer and Dugeon (2010, JNABS)

• Video from Freshwaters Illustrated

– The Last Dragons: Protecting Appalachia’s Hellbenders

– http://vimeo.com/108512185

• Interactive tool from International Rivers

– http://www.internationalrivers.org/worldsrivers/

– What patterns do you find most striking?

– Do any of the data surprise you?

– Do any specific watersheds catch your eye?

Good Reading

• Baron et al. 2002. Meeting ecological and societal needs for freshwater. Ecological Applications, 12, 1247-1260.

• Cullen et al. 2014. Global patterns of freshwater species diversity, threat, and endemism. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 23, 40-51.

• Gilbert. 2012. Water under pressure. Nature, 483, 256-257.

• Nilsson et al. 2005. Fragmentation and flow regulation of the world’s largest river systems. Science, 308, 405-408.

• Strayer and Dudgeon. 2010. Freshwater biodiversity conservation: Recent progress and future challenges.

Next week

• What is “restoration”? – What is the purpose of restoration? – Ecosystem structure v. function v. services? – Restoration for the sake of people or ecosystems

• Reading assignments

– Bradshaw (1996) – Palmer and Filoso (2009) – Palmer and Febria (2012) – Mace (2014) – Miller et al. (2014)

Send me any papers you would like for the class to discuss. Next week, we will sign up for leading discussion.