"River restoration is evolving from an art into a science. A critical first step in this evolution has been to document what is being done in the name of river restoration." said Dr. Emily Bernhardt the lead author of the Science paper by a team of 25 scientists that created the nation's first comprehensive database of river and stream restoration projects.
Project records were obtained by a dedicated team of graduate student researchers led by University of Maryland Professor Margaret Palmer and Post-doctoral researcher, Emily Bernhardt. Bernhardt is now on the faculty at Duke University. Professor David Allan at the University of Michigan also helped lead the national effort. The students combed agency databases and file cabinets and made hundreds of phone calls to resource managers and restoration practitioners.
"According to our research, river restoration is growing exponentially in this country," said Dr. Margaret Palmer, University of Maryland and another author. "There is enormous demand for this kind of work to improve water quality, restore wildlife habitats, and create natural spaces that people can enjoy."
The term river restoration applies to activities such as restoring wetlands to filter pollution, reforesting riverbanks to curb erosion, recreating the natural river channel to reduce downstream flooding, and removing dams to allow fish to migrate freely up and downstream. Accord
'"/>
Contact: Andrew Fahlund
afahlund@americanrivers.org
202-347-7550
American Rivers
28-Apr-2005