Urban Watersheds Perspectives

Gone Fishin'

The mark of a successful man is one that has spent an entire day on the bank of a river without feeling guilty about it..
- Chinese Philosopher

Hi Folks - Your friendly blog editor here.  Since this blog began in January, we've had a great time discussing many of the different issues related to these dynamic projects and have gotten some great feedback.  We've got many more great topics lined up for you in the upcoming months, so stay tuned! 

Since we are now four months into this blog, I thought this would be a great time to invite you to drop us a line (urbanwatersheds@c-b.com), or better yet, post a comment using the link at the bottom of this message.  Share your experiences, resources, articles, and project examples you've read about (successful or even not so successful ones!).   We'd enjoy hearing from you and welcome your opinions. 

Also, don't forget to utilize the new functions on the right hand side of your screen.  You can enter your e-mail address and feedburner will automatically e-mail you each week's posts (you won't get spammed - very secure).  Or click on one of the "chicklets" to link us up to your favorite newsreader.

Thanks again for your support and we look forward to hearing from you!  We'll be back on topic next week.  Until then, see you on the riverbank!

posted by JIM CHLUP

Defining Ecological Values (and Goals) for Urban Watershed Projects

Many cities, counties, and municipalities are taking an interest in managing their urban watersheds and overall this is a good thing. But it is my contention that urban watershed initiatives too often go off half-cocked – especially from an ecological perspective.

The desire to be environmentally sensitive can be a negative influence on projects and management regimes when this desire causes urban watershed managers to push their projects toward a strict “restoration” model in places and in situations where this model doesn’t fit.

There are really three basic benefits of defining the goals for urban watershed projects. A project that has defined goals and objectives will: (1) simply work better – it will be more focused, cost-effective, and beneficial to the community; (2) be easier to gauge whether it is a success or needs to be adapted; and (3) be better understood by the stakeholders and the public.

Number 1 above is pretty obvious and self-explanatory, so I won’t waste anymore bytes on it.

The ability to gauge the success (or failure) of a project is critical. A monitoring program should be one of the earliest considerations in a project. Elected officials and the public ought to be more willing to buy into a project that has clear goals and a logical program to demonstrate achievement of those goals.

Likewise, these goals and objectives should have a clear temporal element or schedule. One of the most common things I notice when doing restoration or enhancement work on urban streams is that the “nearby stakeholders” (i.e., the people whose houses back up to the project area) somehow have this idea that we’re going to snap our fingers and a pristine wooded riparian corridor is going to spring up where an “old growth” ragweed forest existed last summer. It ain’t going to happen. Where do they get this idea though? We all know that urban watershed projects will take years, if not decades, to develop into something that resembles those pretty renderings prepared by the planning folks. Maybe the renderings are part of the problem :-).

If we want to truly succeed in our efforts, the goals (particularly temporal benchmarks) for urban watershed projects must be established at the beginning and then clearly explained to project stakeholders. I’d be interested to hear how some of you urban watershed professionals have addressed the establishment and explanation of ecological goals to your stakeholders.

posted by RANDY ALEXANDER

White Rock Creek

A colleague recently sent me this article and suggested I share it on the blog.  After reading it, I agree with my colleague that it is worth taking a few minutes of your time to read. It is an excellent public education method to show the realities of what frequently happens to urban stream corridors.  I believe a similar story could be told of many an urban stream.

The reality is that people desire to, and do, connect with these bits of natural treasures, which can be lost in many urban environs. At one point or another in history, we have gone through the entire cycle of needing, abusing and embracing such resources. The saddest part is we have not realized exactly what to do to recover what has been lost. It may seem like an overwhelming task to revive, restore or just turn back around and face these long neglected and abused areas. But I challenge that, by working together and identifying the appropriate advocates, it is in fact possible to respect these important cultural and historic parts of our communities.

There it is - the gauntlet has been thrown down. I assume that if you are reading this blog, you must have a similar example in your "backyard", so turn around and face it! And if there is a particular challenge you face moving forward, let us know.  We would be pleased to address a specific topic.

posted by Jacque Thomas