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Final Report: Restoring and Maintaining Riparian Ecosystem Integrity in Arid Watersheds: Meeting the Challenge through Science and Policy Analysis
EPA Grant Number: R827150Title: Restoring and Maintaining Riparian Ecosystem Integrity in Arid Watersheds: Meeting the Challenge through Science and Policy Analysis
Investigators: Maddock, Thomas , Baird, Kate , Baker, Victor R. , Breckenridge, Cabell , Colby, Bonnie G. , Glennon, Robert J. , Stromberg, Julie
Institution: University of Arizona
EPA Project Officer: Stelz, Bill
Project Period: January 15, 1999 through January 1, 2002
Project Amount: $849,638
RFA: Water and Watersheds (1998)
Research Category: Water and Watersheds
Description:
Objective:This project brought together experts from a broad range of disciplines that are involved in the restoration of riparian areas in the arid West–hydrology, ecology, economics, and law. The objective was to further community-based environmental protection by developing hydrologic models, a riparian ecosystem integrity index, economic analysis of the value of healthy river systems, and a legal perspective on various management approaches. To this end, the project has clarified important hydrologic, ecological, economic, and legal characteristics of two endangered arid watersheds, the South Fork of the Kern River in California and the San Pedro River in Arizona. Our research has pursued a series of distinct but interrelated objectives as described below.
Using data developed through extensive field studies, the hydrology team refined existing hydrologic models of riparian corridors to account for the complex interactions between variations in groundwater and evapotranspiration. The objective of this project was to support improved policymaking and research by supplying a more accurate understanding of groundwater/surface water interactions and their effect on riparian vegetation.
The ecology team developed a Riparian Condition Index that enables researchers to evaluate formally the ecosystem condition changes that result from surface and groundwater depletion. The current index system, developed for the San Pedro riparian ecosystem, can be adapted to evaluate ecosystem health along other rivers. In contrast to existing biological indices, which measure biological reaction to a variety of stressors, the Riparian Condition Index is focused specifically on stresses related to surface water and groundwater conditions. The objective of the Riparian Condition Index, and other indices that may be patterned after it, was to allow decisionmakers to analyze the ecological impact of their water policy decisions in isolation from the effects of other environmental stressors.
The economics team has developed data that can help decisionmakers understand the full context of the management decisions they face. Water management decisions often have economic implications for many people, including property owners, tourism businesses, agricultural operations, and citizens who appreciate environmental resources but do not have a financial interest in them. The overall objective of the economics team’s research was to provide an indication of these values, to allow decisionmakers to plan water policy with a broad view of the interests at stake. The specific objectives of this research project were to: (1) identify alternative incentive-based policy instruments useful in protecting riparian habitat and evaluate their strengths and weaknesses; (2) examine the effects of riparian corridors on nearby private property values in arid regions; (3) estimate the economic value of water used in local agriculture located near the project study sites; (4) examine inflows into local economies generated by visitor expenditures at riparian preserves; and (5) examine site visitor values for riparian preservation as measured using the contingent valuation method.
The legal team analyzed the legal context of protection and restoration efforts in the San Pedro and South Fork Kern riparian ecosystems, with a particular emphasis on the water law and environmental law doctrines most likely to impact future restoration and/or development in the study areas. The objective of the legal research was to provide an overview of the complex body of law that controls water allocation in riparian environments and to offer a starting place for stakeholders interested in researching a particular aspect of the water law and environmental law that affects rivers in the arid western United States.
The overall objective of this project was to improve understanding of the complex policy choices and environmental trade-offs that characterize the specific rivers that we studied and to provide a model for analysis of other dry region rivers. This improved understanding will provide valuable support to decisionmakers by: (1) providing an improved framework for examining alternative land and river management practices; and (2) allowing them to assess potential risks to the biotic integrity of the riparian ecosystem from the anthropogenic manipulation of the hydrology and ecology systems.
Together, the results of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Science To Achieve Results (STAR) project research teams can help local governments and stakeholders to make decisions with a more realistic and accurate idea of the long-term consequences of their choices for people and natural systems.
Summary/Accomplishments (Outputs/Outcomes):Our hard science research has led to a number of results that will add to our understanding of the hydraulic and biological systems that are essential to the survival of the ecologically valuable environments along the San Pedro River and the South Fork Kern River. Our social science research (i.e., in economics and law) will allow decisionmakers to look at the economic interests in each watershed from a broad perspective and offers legal and economic analysis of a number of approaches to protecting the flow of water to these rivers. Taken together, this research has led to results that have the potential to help the stakeholders in both watersheds to craft policies that will protect both environmental health and human well-being.
Enhanced Groundwater Models
The hydrology team addressed an important weakness in existing groundwater flow models by developing a new methodology and, subsequently, a new Riparian ET (RIP-ET) package, that estimates the amount of water lost to groundwater systems through evapotranspiration in a more realistic manner. By improving the accuracy of groundwater models, the RIP software will provide stakeholders and decisionmakers with a clearer understanding of existing groundwater conditions. The software also will allow decisions to be made on the basis of more accurate projections of the likely impact of management alternatives on the integrity of biological systems.
Improved Tools for Evaluating Ecosystem Health
The ecology team developed a measure of ecosystem health called the Riparian Condition Index. The team identified a number of plant species that function as indicators of ecological stress resulting from groundwater and surface water conditions. The team then developed a procedure to combine evaluations of indicator species’ well-being into an overall evaluation of the environmental health of a given site. In its current form, the Riparian Condition Index offers the opportunity to evaluate systematically water-related stresses on ecosystems along the San Pedro River. It also offers an example for development of similar indices in other riparian areas experiencing hydrological stress.
Estimates of Costs Attributable to Ecosystem Damage
The economics team laid the groundwork for strategic public policy planning by systematically investigating the economic value of water from a number of perspectives, including the impact of riparian habitation on surrounding property values, local business activity stimulated by visitor expenditures at riparian sites, net farm income from agricultural use of water and the likely costs of leasing or purchasing water from farmers to maintain riparian habitat, and site visitor’s “willingness to pay” for preservation of riparian habitat. Taken together, this information can help policymakers weigh trade-offs among competing water uses more carefully and identify water management strategies that balance competing values.
Proposed Policy Instruments for Accomplishing Ecosystem Goals
The economics team also proposed a number of policy instruments (i.e., regulatory and market systems) that hold the promise of allowing communities to arrive at the combination of water uses that achieves the best possible combination of the communities’ environmental and economic goals.
Guide to the Law of Riparian Ecosystem Preservation
The legal team prepared a guide to the large body of state and federal laws that guide water use and ecosystem protection along the San Pedro and South Fork Kern Rivers. The controversies over water in these watersheds raises questions of state surface water law, state groundwater law, federal environmental law, and federal and Indian “reserved rights” that trump many rights established under state rules. This guide offers a useful starting place for parties interested in investigating the legal context of water management in arid region riparian ecosystems.
Journal Articles:No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 36 publications for this project
Supplemental Keywords:riparian ecosystems, watersheds, hydrologic models, environmental stressors, water management, Riparian Condition Index, aquatic ecosystems, groundwater models,
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Ecosystem Protection/Environmental Exposure & Risk, Economic, Social, & Behavioral Science Research Program, Water, Scientific Discipline, RFA, Ecosystem/Assessment/Indicators, Water & Watershed, Restoration, Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration, decision-making, Mercury, Economics & Decision Making, Hydrology, Watersheds, Ecology and Ecosystems, risk assessment, arid watersheds, ecosystem valuation, public policy, socioeconomics, watershed restoration, econometrics, community-based research, ecology assessment models, decision making, ecological recovery, riparian ecosystem integrity, conservation, GIS, aquatic ecosystems, integrated assessment, community involvement, riparian ecosytem integrity, restoration planning
Progress and Final Reports:
1999 Progress Report
2000 Progress Report
2001 Progress Report
Original Abstract