Adapting stream corridor restoration technology to training land rehabilitation and maintenance

Abstract

The United States has more than 3.5 million miles of rivers and streams that, along with closely associated floodplain and upland areas, comprise corridors of great economic, social, cultural, and environmental value. These corridors support higher rates of biological productivity than almost any other landscape feature. They also contribute significantly to each military installation's unique character. Interest in restoring stream corridor ecosystems is expanding rapidly in the United States. With this in mind, 15 federal agencies formed the Federal Interagency Stream Restoration Working Group in 1995 to seek consensus on the fundamentals of modern approaches to stream restoration and to promote awareness and use of these methods throughout the nation. This unprecedented collaboration produced a comprehensive publication, entitled Stream Corridor Restoration: Principles, Processes, and Practices, which has begun to serve as a foundation of stream corridor restoration knowledge and practice nationwide. Attention to these aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems is a common theme of both Integrated Training Area Management (ITAM) program and stream corridor restoration. ITAM is the Army's strategy for focusing on sustained use of training and testing lands. Cross-program innovation and field-tested stream restoration methods can combine to provide greater sustainability for Department of Defense maneuver areas and ranges over both the short and long term.