Urban Stream Corridor Management in the United States: The Interaction of Ecology and Policy

University Of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst MA

Investigators

Abstract

Since 1950, metropolitan regions of the United States have nearly tripled in population from 84 million (55% of U.S. total) to 226 million in 2000 (80%). During the same period, the number of designated metropolitan regions grew from 169 to 347 and their aggregate land area doubled from 9% to about 19% of the lower 48 states. As metropolitan regions have expanded, land development has degraded and disrupted natural drainage systems, watersheds, wetlands, aquifers, and coastal estuaries. In the process, natural stormwater detention, water quality filtering, biotic habitat, water-based recreation, and scenic amenity have been impaired. Efforts to replace these "Nature's services" through technology, as with flood control projects and water treatment plants, have proven costly, environmentally damaging, and sometimes ineffective. This dismal process was challenged in the 1960s by scientists, environmentalists, and other writers (e.g., Eugene Odum, Garrett Hardin, William H. Whyte, Barry Commoner, Gilbert White, Ian McHarg, Luna Leopold, William Neiring, and John and Mildred Teal). In response, certain cities and metropolitan regions have attempted in McHarg's phrase to "design with Nature" rather than trying to overwhelm biophysical constraints through technology. This shift is tentative, geographically uneven, and poorly documented. But its results are evident in the form of widely established stream corridor "greenways," "daylighting" of channelized streams, floodplain and wetlands management, building regulations for steep slopes, and urban forestry programs. These and related initiatives may be subsumed in the broad rubric of "urban watershed management" for purposes of this study. Since watersheds typically embrace multiple political and ownership units, watershed management requires creative use of partnerships, special districts, and other regional strategies. Urban watershed management is also influenced, for better or worse, by federal laws such as the Clean Water Act, the National Flood Insurance Act, the Coastal Zone Management Act, and the Safe Drinking Water Act. This study will analyze and compare regional experience in urban watershed and estuary management in light of scientific and institutional challenges. Research questions that will guide the study include: 1. What alternative institutional models are available to overcome legal fragmentation in urban watersheds and estuaries? 2. What indicators of "effectiveness" may be applied to the models identified in Question 1? 3. How and to what extent do federal programs encourage or inhibit urban watershed and estuary management? 4. What is the influence of the "property rights movement" and the "takings issue" as constraints upon governmental efforts to retain natural functions of urban watersheds? The study will assess comparative regional experience in urban watershed management through four broad tasks: Task 1 -- Survey of State of Practice: A sample of state and regional resource managers stratified by geographic area and discipline will be surveyed regarding the above questions in relation to their respective geographic localities; Task 2 -- Regional Workshops will be conducted in 3-5 representative metropolitan areas to ascertain more detailed local and regional experience in multi-objective management of urban watersheds, stream corridors, and estuaries; Task 3 -- Detailed Case Studies will more closely analyze selected programs identified in the earlier tasks that representative a spectrum of geographical context and institutional strategies of broader significance; Task 4 - Publication and Dissemination of Results through a book, scholarly articles, and conference papers.