Compensatory Mitigation for Streams Under the Clean Water Act: Reassessing Science and Redirecting Policy1

Doyle, Martin W. and F. Douglas Shields, 2012. Compensatory Mitigation for Streams Under the Clean Water Act: Reassessing Science and Redirecting Policy. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 48(3): 494-509. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2011.00631.x Abstract: Current stream restoration science is not adequate to assume high rates of success in recovering ecosystem functional integrity. The physical scale of most stream restoration projects is insufficient because watershed land use controls ambient water quality and hydrology, and land use surrounding many restoration projects at the time of their construction, or in the future, do not provide sufficient conditions for functional integrity recovery. Reach scale channel restoration or modification has limited benefits within the broader landscape context. Physical habitat variables are often the basis for indicating success, but are now increasingly seen as poor surrogates for actual biological function; the assumption “if you build it they will come” lacks support of empirical studies. If stream restoration is to play a continued role in compensatory mitigation under the United States Clean Water Act, then significant policy changes are needed to adapt to the limitations of restoration science and the social environment under which most projects are constructed. When used for compensatory mitigation, stream restoration should be held to effectiveness standards for actual and measurable physical, chemical, or biological functional improvement. To achieve improved mitigation results, greater flexibility may be required for the location and funding of restoration projects, the size of projects, and the restoration process itself.     

America’s Rivers and the American Experiment1

Doyle, Martin W., 2012. America’s Rivers and the American Experiment. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 48(4): 820‐837. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752‐1688.2012.00652.x Abstract:  America’s rivers are managed, over long periods of time, based on the most basic ideologies of the United States (U.S.) government. An essential notion of the U.S. government, and thus a necessity of river management, is governing as experiment. This leads to three necessary characteristics of river management: (1) adapting management practices based on experience and thus creating management and agency structures that are highly malleable and that can change directions, (2) overlapping of management roles and responsibilities between agencies which includes intentional redundancy and interagency competition, and (3) federalism — the devolution of responsibilities between national, state, and other unit governments (e.g., municipalities, counties). While these characteristics are often criticized as inefficient, in fact they have provided a surprisingly effective system for river management that has responded to the needs of society at different times and in different places. A key question for river and water resource managers is whether this particular system, so initially unappealing, is best able to meet the future needs of the U.S.     

Approaches to integrating indicators into 3D landscape visualisations and their benefits for participative planning situations

In discussing issues of landscape change, the complex relationships in the landscape have to be assessed. In participative planning processes, 3D visualisations have a high potential as an aid in understanding and communicating characteristics of landscape conditions by integrating visual and non-visual landscape information. Unclear is, which design and how much interactivity is required for an indicator visualisation that would suit stakeholders best in workshop situations. This paper describes the preparation and application of three different types of integrated 3D visualisations in workshops conducted in the Entlebuch UNESCO Biosphere Reserve (CH). The results reveal that simple representations of a complex issue created by draping thematic maps on the 3D model can make problematic developments visible at a glance; that diagrams linked to the spatial context can help draw attention to problematic relationships not considered beforehand; and that the size of species as indicators of conditions of the landscape's production and biotope function seems to provide a common language for stakeholders with different perspectives. Overall, the of the indicators the functions required to assist in information processing. Further research should focus on testing the effectiveness of the integrated visualisation tools in participative processes for the general public.     

Changes in toxicity and Ah receptor agonist activity of suspended particulate matter during flood events at the rivers Neckar and Rhine — a mass balance approach using in vitro methods and chemical analysis

Background, aim, and scope  

As a consequence of flood events, runoff and remobilized sediments may cause an increase of ecotoxicologically relevant effects from contaminant reservoirs. Aquatic and terrestrial organisms as well as cattle and areas of settlement are exposed to dislocated contaminants during and after flood events. In this study, the impacts of two flood events triggered by intense rain at the rivers Neckar and Rhine (Southern Germany) were studied. Effects in correlation to flood flow were assessed at the river Neckar using samples collected at frequent intervals. River Rhine suspended particulate matter (SPM) was sampled over a longer period at normal flow and during a flood event. Three cell lines (H4L1.1c4, GPC.2D.Luc, RTL-W1) were used to compare Ah receptor agonist activity in different biotest systems. Multilayer fractionation was performed to identify causative compounds, focusing on persistent organic contaminants.     

The use of respirometric measurements to determine the toxicity of textile dyes in aqueous solution and after oxidative decolourisation processes

Selected results from the degradation of reactive-dye hydrolysates after UV irradiation, ozonation and sodium peroxodisulphate (NaPS) treatment are presented. Reactive dyes with representative chromophores and anchor groups were chosen for the research project. Different stages of oxidative decolourisation were examined and determined by water parameters for biological degradation (BOD). The paper focuses on toxicity tests with Pseudomonas putida to consider whether the oxidative treatments result in products with a risk for the environment. Tests were performed with the AQUALYTIC^® Sensomat System, which measures biological oxygen demand (BOD). It was determined that the chosen oxidative treatments had as a rule no bearing on respiration of P. putida. Experiments with hydrolysates after short-term UV irradiation resulted in a slightly increased but not long-lasting toxicity in comparison with treatments with ozone or NaPS. Toxic effects were found in tests with hydrolysates of metalliferous dyes. During oxidative treatment, metals were liberated from the chromophores. This did cause complete inhibition of respiration of P. putida. Dye Blue E, a member of a dye class with chlorotriazine anchor groups, was itself found to be toxic, caused by the reactivity of the anchor group. The hydrolysate is only of minor toxicity.     

Golden Eagle fatalities and the continental‐scale consequences of local wind‐energy generation

Renewable energy production is expanding rapidly despite mostly unknown environmental effects on wildlife and habitats. We used genetic and stable isotope data collected from Golden Eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) killed at the Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area (APWRA) in California in demographic models to test hypotheses about the geographic extent and demographic consequences of fatalities caused by renewable energy facilities. Geospatial analyses of δ²H values obtained from feathers showed that ≥25% of these APWRA‐killed eagles were recent immigrants to the population, most from long distances away (>100 km). Data from nuclear genes indicated this subset of immigrant eagles was genetically similar to birds identified as locals from the δ²H data. Demographic models implied that in the face of this mortality, the apparent stability of the local Golden Eagle population was maintained by continental‐scale immigration. These analyses demonstrate that ecosystem management decisions concerning the effects of local‐scale renewable energy can have continental‐scale consequences.     

Using participation to create resilience: how to involve citizens in designing a hospital system?

Decisions on health-related risks affect many people personally. The public debate on hospital planning is therefore especially emotional and conflict-ridden. Due to the aging population and the high costs of constantly improving medical care, the question arises in many German rural areas as to which hospitals can be kept and developed further and which ones should be closed. The new approach of the present state government of Baden-Württemberg in Germany, in collaboration with the University of Stuttgart and the State Health Office Baden-Württemberg, is to apply citizen participation to prepare this type of decision. The design of this type of public participation process is based on the criteria of mediation (including open decision-making scope, opportunity for discussion in the protected context of the working group, as well as disclosure of all information and transparency of the results toward the public). This approach has proven useful for conducting dialogs in areas with potential conflict. Based on the experiences from this hospital participation process, further recommendations for an effective, efficient and fair participation processes could be derived. The case demonstrates that adequate and structured involvement processes are capable of delivering sustainably acceptable results even in difficult decision-making processes.     

Life-history analysis in “physiological” compared with “sidereal” time: An example with an amphipod (Gammarus lawrencianus) in a varying environment

The multivoltine, estuarine amphipodGammarus lawrencianus has four generations per year in an environment where temperatures range seasonally from –1° to 25°C. Temperature-response curves for rates of brood production and development were determined by laboratory experiments and field observation. The life history and population dynamics were observed over a full annual cycle (1981) for a field population located at Rocky Run, Porter's Lake, Nova Scotia, Canada. On a natural (i.e., sidereal) time scale, the generations appear to have very different life histories: the two summer generations have short lives, rapid development and mature at small size (classicr-selection), whereas the overwintering generations have relatively low rates of mortality, slow development and mature at large size (classicK-selection). This pattern (larger size at maturity at lower temperatures) is widespread in aquatic poikilotherms. Similar life-history differences are evident among cohorts of the summer generations that mature at different temperatures. When time is expressed on a physiological scale that removes the effect of temperature on embryonic development and reproductive rate, the variation within and among generations is greatly reduced. In particular, an apparent alternation betweenr- andK-selection largely disappears. Because the generations are temporally isolated, it might be surmised that natural selection acting on the summer generations might antagonize the effects of natural selection acting on the fall and winter generations. However, the scaling of the rates of development, maturation, growth, reproduction and mortality on the physiological time scale derived from the temperature dependence of development and reproductive rate gives a very different and more homogeneous pattern.