![[logo] US EPA](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081107123002im_/http://www.epa.gov/epafiles/images/logo_epaseal.gif){kind=logo}
2001 Progress Report: Integrating Salmon Habitat Restoration and Flood Hazard Initiatives: Societal/Biophysical Estimators for the Cedar River and Implications for Regional Rivers
EPA Grant Number: R827149Title: Integrating Salmon Habitat Restoration and Flood Hazard Initiatives: Societal/Biophysical Estimators for the Cedar River and Implications for Regional Rivers
Investigators: Wissmar, Robert C. , Fluharty, David L. , Leschine, Thomas M.
Current Investigators: Wissmar, Robert C. , Fluharty, David L. , Leschine, Thomas M. , Montgomery, Melissa , Timm, Raymond K.
Institution: University of Washington
Current Institution: University of Washington - Seattle
EPA Project Officer: Stelz, Bill
Project Period: February 1, 1999 through January 31, 2002 (Extended to January 31, 2003)
Project Period Covered by this Report: February 1, 2001 through January 31, 2002
Project Amount: $749,991
RFA: Water and Watersheds (1998)
Research Category: Water and Watersheds
Description:
Objective:During project year 2001, we continued to evaluate how policy and management of land and water uses influence river ecosystems, riparian and stream habitats, fish populations, and human systems of the lower Cedar River Basin near Seattle, WA. Biophysical research is being conducted by the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences (SAFS) and societal research is being conducted by the School of Marine Affairs (SMA). The primary objectives of this research project are to: (1) understand how retrospective and contemporary societal, policy, and environmental forces influence the current environment; (2) develop the ability to assess and anticipate biophysical and human systems responses; and (3) formulate and examine the effectiveness of policies for restoring damaged river and floodplain ecosystems.
Progress Summary:Biophysical Research (SAFS). Our team from SAFS has been continuing the evaluation of management efforts that deal with biophysical factors relating to river basin management (e.g., flood reduction facilities, water availability, and urban growth patterns), and management actions that restore riparian and salmon habitats. We are using land cover layers (Geographic Information Systems (GIS) files) and spatial models to evaluate how human and landscape factors cause changes in land uses and hydrological balances throughout drainages, and how these factors alter fish and habitat functions. We have recently completed and published our assessment of changes in land cover within the Cedar River drainage between 1991 and 1998 (Wissmar, et al., 2000).
Our findings demonstrate the efficacy of our developed land cover layers for identifying the spatial extent and temporal changes in impervious areas. Specific attributes include the improved ability to: (1) identify variations in impervious areas; (2) assign model parameters; (3) monitor and compare changes over time; (4) assess restoration river management initiatives; and (5) use land covers in a spatial hydrology model to simulate flow regimes at different spatial scales.
Our 2001 research activities have included applications of our land cover analysis and files within a spatial hydrology model. Activities also include the development of a multi-scale procedure for prioritizing habitat restoration sites.
We also are using our land cover analysis, along with additional information (e.g., habitat and socio-economic) from King County and other agencies, to assess how the distribution of human developments and conflicts (e.g., land values and zoning; road and flood control facilities) affect riparian and stream habitats. Our objective is to provide a process for identifying and prioritizing the most opportune sites for riparian restoration. Our procedure involves a multi-scale approach for identifying and prioritizing restoration sites in riparian corridors at different landscape scales. This tool is designed to assist decision makers in improving processes of selection and implementation of restoration projects.
Our habitat restoration research assesses how different geomorphic conditions and discharge rates influence channel and floodplain habitat characteristics, including their hydrological connectivity with the river channel, and their habitat preferences for spawning and juvenile salmon. Our research shows how river discharge and stage height control surface and subsurface flows between river channels and off-channel floodplain areas, as well as habitat availability and access and use by adult and juvenile fish (e.g., habitat preferences and reproductive timing).
We are demonstrating that off-channel habitats are especially attractive in river systems where flow extremes and channel instability make main channel projects impractical. We are evaluating these findings by simultaneously studying newly created spawning habitats (e.g., the Elliott and Rock Creek-Wetland 79 reaches). Colonization by spawning salmon, and resultant abundances of recently hatched juveniles within these restored reaches and habitats, along with functional hydrologic and structural conditions (e.g., partially breached levees), demonstrates the feasibility of reach-habitat scale restoration projects.
Societal Research (SMA). Research by the SMA team is based on explicit recognition of the risks of ecological restoration. Risks of failure versus success can depend on four interrelated ecological and societal conditions: (1) ecological circumstances under which restoration is attempted; (2) how nature is viewed and valued by society; (3) social commitment to ecological restoration; and (4) quality of judgments for accomplishing restoration.
SMA research findings indicate that select state and federal government laws and institutions are the major forces controlling the degree of integration of salmon habitat restoration opportunities with flood hazard reduction initiatives. The primary state act is the Washington State Growth Management Act (GMA) and the GMA required local governmental implementation (e.g., King County) of regional Urban Growth Area Boundaries (UGB) and provisions for water, open space, conservation, and restoration. Both the GMA and the UGB influence patterns of human development and land uses across urban and rural landscapes. The key federal law is the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and recent listings of salmon stocks in the Puget Sound region. ESA policy decisions from 1999 to 2001, resultant Habitat Conservation Plans (HCP), and Tri-County watershed recovery guidelines, are influencing the capabilities of local governments to develop and implement successful restoration plans.
Although the potential for salmon habitat restoration within the lower Cedar River Basin has been recognized in county level assessments since at least 1992, major changes in governance arrangements affecting restoration potential have occurred, both in anticipation of, and in response to, the recent ESA listings. The emergence of many institutional actors with the power to facilitate or affect salmon recovery in the Cedar Basin raises the question of how well the entire system is coordinated. Looking to governmental entities, we surmise that coordinated investment of resources will not occur unless there is a common vision to put mutual resources to effective use. The broad question is how the nature of institutional relationships is affecting habitat project decisions and their outcomes.
We identified a broad array of institutional actors in this arena, and used elite interviews to examine patterns of interaction likely to influence decision outcomes. Individuals representing a broad array of interested parties were interviewed and numerous documents were examined. Results indicate that a lack of shared vision, driven in part by conflicting agency mandates and high transaction costs, impedes the progress in salmon recovery. Such problems are expressed "on the ground" in a piecemeal approach to restoration in which the significance can be difficult to gauge. Transaction costs that impede interactions exist at all institutional levels. As a result, habitat restoration projects in the Cedar Basin are taking on the look of opportunistic actions despite plans for more systematic approaches.
The SMA research during the 2001 and 2002 extension period focuses on the following questions:
(1) How do governance systems respond to the problems and opportunities that
exist at the different spatial and temporal scales?
(2) How do different user groups perceive salmon protection and restoration
actions in relation to both personal and societal values?
(3) How do different user groups perceive benefits and costs of proposed salmon
protection and restoration, and do these perceptions change in physical proximity
to restoration projects or opportunities?
To further evaluate questions 1, 2, and 3, we are using our land cover layers and additional information (e.g., habitat and socio-economic) from King County and other agencies. We are assessing the distribution of human development and conflicts (e.g., land values and zoning; roads and flood control facilities). We also are conducting studies to address institutional aspects of question 1, as well as social surveys to address questions 2 and 3.
We are nearing completion of the retrospective study of institutional decision processes and values that have altered the topography, hydrology, and biogeography of the lower Cedar River drainage. Results indicate that the institutional processes have changed markedly over time from extractive, to protection/restoration orientations. However, cumulative effects of physical and biological alterations significantly constrain present decisions processes and restoration alternatives.
Future Activities:Researchers during 2002 (an additional no-cost extension year) will continue to evaluate our research questions and complete publications.
Journal Articles on this Report: 3 Displayed | Download in RIS Format
| Other project views: | All 38 publications | 7 publications in selected types | All 7 journal articles |
| Type | Citation | ||
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Logsdon MG, Timm RK, Wissmar RC, Storck P, Pflugh DC. Variation of impervious areas and urban watershed hydrology. Journal of Environmental Quality and Management. |
R827149 (2001) R827149 (Final) |
not available |
|
|
Timm RK, Wissm RC, Small JW, Leschine TM, Lucchetti G. A Screening Procedure for prioritizing riparian management. Environmental Management 2003; 33, (1): 151-161. |
R827149 (2001) R827149 (Final) |
not available |
|
|
Wissmar RC, Timm RK, Storck P. Effect of land use change on watershed hydrology. Journal of the American Water Resources Association. |
R827149 (2001) |
not available |
water, watersheds, land, restoration, salmon, riparian, river, habitat, societal, policy decisions, Pacific Northwest. , Ecosystem Protection/Environmental Exposure & Risk, Water, Geographic Area, Scientific Discipline, RFA, Ecosystem/Assessment/Indicators, Water & Watershed, Restoration, Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration, Wet Weather Flows, Hydrology, Watersheds, Ecology and Ecosystems, State, risk assessment, aquatic ecosystem, wildlife habitat, public policy, watershed restoration, Washington (WA), riparian zone conditions, aquatic habitat protection , fish habitat, flood hazard initiatives, ecological recovery, riparian ecosystem integrity, conservation, salmon habitat restoration, suburban watersheds, urban development, fllod hazard initiatives, aquatic ecosystems, flood control, riparian habitat, floodplain ecosystems, floodplain ecosystem, restoration strategies, restoration planning, river ecosystems, urban stream rehabilitation
Relevant Websites:
http://amadeus.fish.washington.edu/people/wissmar/index.html 
http://www.metrokc.gov/exec/esa/salmon_brink.htm
Progress and Final Reports:
1999 Progress Report
2000 Progress Report
Original Abstract
Final Report