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Expanding Monitoring and Performance to Dynamic Stream Systems
Download —> Workshop Proceedings
Lead Instructor - Organizer:
Samuel Leberg
ORISE Fellow | US EPA
Freshwater & Marine Regulatory Branch
Washington, DC
Presenters
Brian Topping-US EPA
Art Parola-University of Eastern Kentucky
Caroline Nash-CK Blueshift, LLC
Bob Siegfried- Resource Environmental Solutions
Matthew Hubbard - Ecotone, Inc.
Panelists
Ellen Wohl- Colorado State University
Will Harman-Stream Mechanics
Nick Ozburn - USACE, Baltimore District
Dave Penrose (tentative)- Penrose Environmental Consulting
Instruction Methods:
Presentations of five subsections with a standing panel to facilitate conversation, refine introduced methods, and encourage audience engagement.
Students Should Bring:
A report detailing potential performance metrics and monitoring procedures will be sent out prior to the session to all registrants.
Learning Objectives:
The session will introduce a range of performance metrics and monitoring procedures available for the restoration of dynamic alluvial stream valleys gathered from literature reviews and interviews with dozens of practitioners, regulators, and researchers. Workshop presenters, panelists, and participants will expand on and refine the described tools through presentations and panel and audience discussion. All attendees will come away with a more comprehensive and effective toolset to support the restoration of dynamic alluvial valleys.
Workshop Description:
Historically, compensatory mitigation has discouraged restoration of dynamic and multithread stream systems (i.e. streams that may change significantly between monitoring periods) largely because the majority of performance standards and monitoring requirements were designed with relatively static, single-thread channels in mind. However, the restoration of dynamic alluvial valleys (including stream wetland complexes, restoration to a Stage 0 condition, and valley restoration) has grown in frequency and been shown to achieve high ecological lift. Additionally, attitudes towards beaver colonization have shifted towards active management over removal. Accommodating these restoration methods and outcomes in compensatory mitigation projects requires new regulatory tools including performance standards and monitoring metrics appropriate for dynamic and multithread systems. This special session aims to begin to fill those gaps by publishing the proceedings of the session.
In this session, we will first present two examples of dynamic alluvial valley restoration projects in different parts of the country including their monitoring strategies and results. We will then present potential holistic monitoring strategies in dynamic streams to be used instead of, or in combination with, plot and transect assessments. The final two sessions will explore approaches for adaptive management of dynamic sites and specifically how beaver could be managed in these dynamic systems (and in traditional restorations) by adapting performance standards to a changing stream. In addition to the presenters, there will be a consistent panel who will lead discussions and provide additional depth of review for each presentation before opening up to general questions, comments and suggestions from the audience.
About Samuel Leberg
Sam Leberg is an ORISE participant with the EPA, in the Freshwater and Marine Regulatory Branch. His Master’s research focused on the community response to tile drainage in restored oxbow wetlands and his prior research includes studying the impacts of deforestation on fish communities in Ecuador. Currently, his research is focused on performance, monitoring, and management of dynamic stream restorations as compensatory mitigation.
About Brian Topping
Brian Topping has worked at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency since 2004 in the Clean Water Act Section 404 regulatory program. He works on streamflow duration assessment method development, programmatic tracking and reporting, training, and compensatory mitigation with a focus on stream mitigation.
About Art Parola
Dr. Art Parola, P.E., is the director of the Stream Institute and a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Louisville. He received his PhD in civil engineering, water resources, from The Pennsylvania State University in 1990. Dr. Parola is a recognized expert in stream and wetland restoration methods, stream morphology, and sediment dynamics. He has conducted fieldwork in at least 28 US states and Australia and New Zealand, and for more than 20 years, he has collaborated with federal, state, and local agencies and community organizations, provided engineering consulting services, taught, and carried out applied research.
About Caroline Nash
Caroline is a professional hydrologist and geomorphologist with a decade of experience in process-based watershed restoration throughout the American West. She works collaboratively with partners to connect lessons learned from place-based project design, implementation and evaluation to state and national-level funding and policy conversations.
About Bob Siegfried
Bob Siegfried has 35 years of experience in NEPA and 404 permitting, including design, construction, and monitoring of wetland and stream mitigation sites. As part of a large team, he led the stream design team that completed 70 miles of restoration and enhancement on the largest Permittee Responsible Mitigation site in the U.S. As a Sr. Project Manager at RES, he is currently working to change how stream mitigation is measured and monitored.
About Matt Hubbard, PWS
Matt Hubbard, PWS is a technical solutions manager at Ecotone. He has over 20 years of experience in stream, wetland, and living shoreline restoration. Matt is experienced with many restoration approaches and is currently focusing on large full delivery projects and mitigation banks.