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

Riparian Areas of the Southwestern United States: Hydrology, Ecology, and Management provides hydrologists, watershed managers, land-use planners, educators, policymakers, and non-governmental organizations with a comprehensive account of the multiple benefits and conflicts arising from the uniquely structured ecosystems of arid and semi-arid regions. The text describes the inhabitants of southwestern riparian ecosystems and addresses the research, planning, and management concerns for these fragile ecosystems in relation to the impacts of water and sediment flows, livestock grazing, and other human activities, and the maintenance of key wildlife and fish habitats.

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.

This annotated bibliography contains 1,905 citations from professional journals, symposia, workshops, proceedings, technical reports, and other sources. The intent of this compilation was to: (1) assemble, to the extent possible, all available and accessible publications relating to riparian management within a single source or document; (2) provide managers, field biologists, researchers, and others, a point of access for locating scientific literature relevent to their specific interest; and (3) provide, under one cover, a comprehensive collection of annotated publications that could dessiminate basic information relative to the status of our knowledge.

Fifty years ago, riparian habitats were not recognized for their extensive and critical contributions to wildlife and the ecosystem function of watersheds. This changed as riparian values were identified and documented, and the science of riparian ecology developed steadily. Papers in this volume range from the more mesic northwestern United States to the arid Southwest and Mexico. More than two dozen authors-most with decades of experience-review the origins of riparian science in the western United States, document what is currently known about riparian ecosystems, and project future needs. Topics are widespread and include: interactions with fire, climate change, and declining water; impacts from exotic species; unintended consequences of biological control; the role of small mammals; watershed response to beavers; watershed and riparian changes; changes below large dams; water birds of the Colorado River Delta; and terrestrial vertebrates of mesquite bosques.

This book describes the underlying water conditions and geologies that support viable riparia, illustrates the ecological characteristics of riparia, and discusses how riparia are used by human cultures as well as how riparia can be used to sustain environmental quality. In recent years riparian management has been widely implemented as a means of improving fisheries, water quality, and habitat for endangered species. This book provides the basic knowledge necessary to implement successful, long-term management and rehabilitation programs. - Treats riparian patterns & processes in a holistic perspective, from ecological components to societal activities - Contains over 130 illustrations and photos that summarize this complex ecological system - Synthesizes the information from more than 6,000 professional articles - Sidebars provide a look into ongoing research that is at the frontiers of riparian ecology and management

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.