Watershed Assessment Tool for Evaluating Ecological Condition, Proposed Impacts, and Restoration Potential at Multiple Scales

摘要

In rapidly developing regions of the United States, planning and regulatory agencies are faced with the difficult task of protecting and enhancing natural resources while accommodating economic development. There is a general consensus among resource management professionals that the most effective way to approach the complex issues involved is to consider them at the watershed level, where the fundamental connection among all components of the landscape is the network of streams that drain the basin (Heathcote 1998, National Research council 1999, Newbold 2002, Ogg and Keith 2002). The watershed perspective promotes consideration of the linkages among landscape components, such as the effects of land use on stream water quality and discharge, or the potential influence of water diversions or storage on the habitat quality of downstream channels, wetlands, and riparian areas.