Stream Restoration Design Handbook (NEH-654) and Stream Corridor Restoration - Principles, Processes, Practices (NEH-653)

CD-ROM VERSION

NTIS Order Number PB2009-500007

Price: $89

Or call NTIS at 1-800-553-6847 (703-605-6000). 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has worked with private landowners since the 1930s to in managing streams to meet their ecological needs and the needs of people who work and live nearby. NRCS technical assistance is based on science-based solutions that result in installed projects that range from relatively simple stream bank protection to more complex plans covering watershed-scale stream and riparian restoration efforts involving multiple partners and agencies.

In 1998, an NRCS-led effort resulted in 15 Federal agencies producing the document entitled Stream Corridor Restoration: Principles, Processes, and Practices (NEH 653). Diverse groups of users, both nationally and internationally, are using this interagency document to plan stream corridor restoration projects. However, this document stopped short of providing specific design guidance tools that are required as the NRCS increasingly becomes involved in stream restoration projects that cover the full range of treatments, from natural to management to structural. These stream restoration projects require designs that can best be developed from a balance of skills in both engineering and ecology. This extensive document was assembled to ensure NRCS specialists and field personnel have the best design tools available.

The primary emphasis of the Stream Restoration Design Handbook (NEH 654) is on how-to techniques; theory is only briefly discussed. Concise outlines, tables, and formulas are presented. While primarily an NRCS effort, stream and aquatic ecology experts from a variety of Federal, state, and local agencies, as well as private consultants and universities, contributed to the content.

The NRCS Stream Restoration Design Handbook (NEH654) presents a variety of engineering and ecological assessment and design tools. This handbook is not meant to be read linearly as a book; it is a set of tools and approaches that can be applied to stream restoration designs. The terms river or stream may be used in this handbook, but the terms do not denote a statutory size or watershed drainage area limitation or requirement. Any work performed on rivers and streams is under the purview of all applicable Federal, state, tribal, and local guidelines.

Contents of the CD: