New Stream Restoration Design Handbook and Training

Thanks to the help from over 120 contributors, a new Stream Restoration Design Handbook is being developed by NRCS. The new handbook, currently undergoing external peer review, will be available August 2005 for wide review. It will incorporate a variety of new tools and approaches, ecological and engineering principals for design achievement, and will be supplemented by new and emerging tools available on a companion web site under development.

This new handbook, written for NRCS field practitioners, will focus on the planning and design aspects of stream restoration work ranging from stabilizing streambank erosion, to large complex stream restoration or rehabilitation plans. This handbook will provide updated technologies as well as design procedures for treatment concepts presented in the National Engineering Handbook, Part 653, Stream Corridor Restoration: Principles, Processes, and Practices.

A companion introductory training course, A Framework for Stream Corridor Restoration will be offered through the NRCS National Employee Development Center (NEDC) in July and August of 2005. Those interested can enroll through I-CAMS.

In 2006, NEDC will also offering a basic and an advanced design course based on the NRCS Stream Restoration Design Handbook. For information on the training courses, contact Janie Wade, NRCS training specialist, at 817-509-3258.
Your contacts are Jon Fripp, NRCS civil engineer, at 817-509-3771; Kerry Robinson, NRCS hydraulic engineer, at 336-370-3348; or Jerry Bernard, NRCS National Geologist, at 202-720-5356.