Wednesday, August 4, 2010: 8:00 PM-10:00 PM
301-302, David L Lawrence Convention Center
Organizer:
Joe Berg, Biohabitats, Inc.
Moderator:
Joe Berg, Biohabitats, Inc.
Speakers:
Keith Underwood, Underwood & Associates, Inc.;
Erik Michelsen, Underwood & Associates, Inc.;
Ted Brown, Biohabitats, Inc.; and
Joe Berg, Biohabitats, Inc.
This session will present and discuss new opportunities for water resources management using principles of ecological engineering and ecosystem restoration. Water resource elements will include streams, wetlands, and riparian edges, groundwater, stormwater, legacy sediments, novel soils, and native plant communities. Current practices and significant new techniques will be discussed, and an approach to ecological engineering will be presented that addresses society's immediate need for environmental services while initiating a positive biofeedback that results in improved ecosystem resources. Session participants will:
1. Present five years worth of water quality monitoring data along a longitudinal axis and related observations on how historic land use practices influence our perspectives and converted natural systems into novel systems;
2. Compare and contrast bankfull stream restoration with baseflow stream restoration, describe ecosystem benefits, and document better management of an altered urban hydrograph;
3. Introduce regenerative stormwater conveyance practices and the benefits associated with this technique for creating zero-order streams and reversing the trend of stream loss;
4. Describe an approach to stormwater management which used creation of stream channels to collect and convey runoff in a non-erosive manner and improve community resources and aesthetics; and
5. Summarize the results of several research studies evaluating the performance of these approaches in terms of nutrients, sediment, and hydrology.
These presentations will focus on existing projects that have been implemented over the last eight years. All the presenters have been working together over this period and include representatives from academia, government, and consulting fields.