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What's right/wrong with this picture?!?

A Watershed Academy Web exercise in stream restoration principles

Interest in restoring stream corridors is growing rapidly. More and more, restoration experts are moving away from the heavily engineered, concrete-and-channelization methods used for controlling streams in the past and implementing less intrusive methods that use natural materials and are designed for the way streams naturally act -- often with better stability and less ecological damage.

Natural events such as floods, or human activities such as major changes in land use, can make stream corridor restoration necessary. The following two photographs are of two sites along a stream partially damaged by flooding in 1996. One site underwent serious erosion, while the other site was changed, but remained relatively unharmed. Stream bank repairs have started at the damaged site, but which of the visible activities are right or wrong choices from a stream corridor restoration perspective? Your challenge is to examine both photos, form your opinions, and click on those areas of each photo where you feel something appears right or wrong.

To begin, click on either Photo 1 or Photo 2 below.

Photo 1

Photo 2

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