Restoration is Ancient History: Nothing You Do Is New
Bob Siegfried
RES
Richmond, VA
How many times have you heard Stream Restoration is a “young” discipline? Probably at every conference you have attended. But does that perspective reflect the reality of man’s millennium long relationship with rivers and streams? Do we use this perspective to ignore history or excuse our failures?
The roots of Stream Restoration lie deep in history – in ancient drainage works that modified water flow for agriculture and urban centers around the world. An understanding of hydraulics underpins both modern day restoration and ancient water works. Bioengineering was a common tool in the ancient world – the word “Fascine” comes from the Roman “to bundle”. Much of what we think is new, is just new to us.
Nearly one hundred years ago, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a response to the environmental degradation so evident throughout the US. CCC crews, led by landscape architects, are well known for replanting forests, but they also “restored” 100s of miles of streams, using primarily hand tools, stone, wood and living plant materials. What have we learned from projects put into the ground almost 100 years ago? Or have we ignored this past?
The post-WWII era saw stream management become the domain of the civil engineer, dominated by command and control strategies implemented by big machines and concrete. The ancient history of restoration was replaced by modern engineering.
Our more modern era of stream restoration started in the 1980 with fish habitat structures, then the rebirth of bioengineering led by Bestman Green Systems bring ideas in from Germany. Then Rosgen, Interfluve and other western practitioners spreading their work to a national audience eager to address watershed degradation. Concrete was replaced by stone, and more recently by wood. Ecological processes became more foundational in building sustainable restoration, including floodplain reconnection and mimicking beaver behavior. As we put more ecology back into restoration, what have we forgotten from our ancient (or not so ancient) past which could better inform our future?
About Bob Siegfried
Mr. Siegfried has 35 years of experience in water quality, stream ecology and environmental planning in the Mid-Atlantic region, with the last 25 years focused on wetland and stream restoration. In addition to designing projects for federal, state and local clients, he has co-authored state guidance and taught graduate level courses in stream restoration. He learns best by walking streams and listening to what they are telling him.