What to Do About Those Dammed Streams

摘要

farming, and soil erosion produced widespread valley-bottom sedimentation, followed by modern stream incision into these deposits, termed "legacy sediment." This raises the question of what, if anything, should be done. Should we dig up legacy deposits to reduce sediment loading to Chesapeake Bay? Should streams be restored to their pre-Colonial condition? The legacy sediment debate is decades old (1, 2), but its social context has evolved. The emergence of a stream restoration industry and long-running struggles to reduce sediment loading to the Chesapeake Bay provide a constituency and pressure for large-scale remediation, action apparently advocated by Walter and Merritts (3).