The Clean Water Act (CWA) requires that wetlands be protected from degradation because of their important ecological functions including maintenance of high water quality and provision of fish and wildlife habitat. However, this protection generally does not encompass riparian areasâ€"the lands bordering rivers and lakesâ€"even though they often provide the same functions as wetlands. Growing recognition of the similarities in wetland and riparian area functioning and the differences in their legal protection led the NRC in 1999 to undertake a study of riparian areas, which has culminated in Riparian Areas: Functioning and Strategies for Management. The report is intended to heighten awareness of riparian areas commensurate with their ecological and societal values. The primary conclusion is that, because riparian areas perform a disproportionate number of biological and physical functions on a unit area basis, restoration of riparian functions along America's waterbodies should be a national goal.

The timing could not be better for addressing riparian area management and the resulting impacts of surface water. The Forest Service leadership team has identified water and watershed management as the issue of the upcoming decade. These factors and more have moved riparian forests to the forefront of environmental management. Riparian Management in Forests of the Continental Eastern United States gives you the tools you need to take on this task. Each day, thousands of natural resource professionals face the problems involved in managing riparian forests. The challenge: fragmented ownership, fragmented ecosystems, and diverse interest groups. The solution requires a multidisciplinary approach, drawing on a complex mix of government agencies, private interests, and local communities as exemplified in the following initiatives: Chesapeake Bay Program "Save the Bay" Inland West Water Strategy New York City Watershed Project The Pacific Habitat Strategy The Anadromous Fish Habitat Riparian Management in Forests of the Continental Eastern United States summarizes the state-of-the-art in the management of forested riparian areas. It serves as a desktop reference for natural resource administrators, educators, and on-the-ground managers from industry, consulting firms, and municipal, state, and federal agencies who routinely face the complex problems of protecting riparian areas. Features

Defines riparian areas in laymen's terms and provides a brief overview of the value of riparian areas, and how the Bureau of Land management manages them.

In ecosystem-oriented management, the basis for riparian treatments lies with the relationships between biotic and abiotic components. Ideally, the basic unit for management is a watershed. Using the watershed as a management unit provides a focus toward the entire stream system, as well as its individual streams, as opposed to isolated, site-specific treatments. Key components for consideration are overall watershed geomorphology; hydrology; existing, historic, and potential vegetation; and animal community dynamics. Human activities can also significantly influence riparian ecosystems and should be considered as well. They are usually the most impacting, and yet the most readily controllable factors.

This volume presents 135 of the papers presented at the 1981 California Riparian Systems Conference. The papers address all aspects of riparian systems: habitat, wildlife, land management, land use policy planning, conservation and water resource management.

This technical reference details field procedures for describing and documenting ecological site information as it applies to the interaction between soils, climate, hydrology, and vegetation for riparian-wetland resources as well as for uplands...This document is intended for use with related manuals and handbooks documented in the work.