Bridging the Gap: Integrating Digital Tools and Natural Channel Design in Stream Restoration
Sean Bernheisel, EIT
AECOM
Germantown, MD
The stream restoration design process has increasingly leveraged digital software to guide design, tools such as HEC-RAS, Civil3D, FlowMaster, and RiverMorph, which have been widely accessible since the early 2000s. These programs facilitate the achievement of desirable stream parameters through iterative design adjustments, particularly in channel slope and sizing. This digital approach has led some new practitioners to favor simplified methods for engineering design guidance over the use of more intensive site-specific field data collection and typical Natural Channel Design (NCD) techniques, which have proven to be essential for reducing channel and bank shear stresses and velocities and establishing long-term channel stability.
NCD principles and techniques offer multiple co-benefits, including habitat creation, while NCD, utilizing reference reaches, enhances habitat suitability for local aquatic species. However, these practices may be unfamiliar to new professionals entering the field from diverse technical backgrounds. Consequently, there is a tendency among new practitioners to prioritize reducing velocities and shear stresses in software outputs, often at the expense of cost, form, and ecological function.
This presentation will address the limitations of current software tools and emphasize the importance of engaging new practitioners in hands-on data collection, design, and construction. We will share personal examples illustrating how less experienced staff can produce suboptimal designs despite meeting acceptable design parameters. Our goal is to highlight the critical need for a balanced approach that integrates digital tools with field data collection and NCD principles to achieve sustainable and ecologically sound stream restoration outcomes.
About Sean Bernheisel, EIT
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