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  • July

    Green River Handy Riparian Habitat Restoration Project (or simply, GR ecosystem restoration site) Near Greensburg, Kentucky (photo by Richie Kessler, TNC, Winter, 2000-2001).

    Green River, Kentucky, Conservation Project

    How can something exist and not exist at the same time, effect change yet remain almost invisible
  • Figure 1. Connections Between Different Types of Models for Supporting Ecologically Sustainable Water Management.

    Models and Software for Supporting Ecologically Sustainable Water Management

    Models and software for supporting ecologically sustainable water management - As awareness leads to improved scientific understanding (and vice versa), more strategies linking water and ecosystem management will be identified, which will in turn become new analytical challenges for software tools.
  • Figure 2. Process for Defining and Implementing Environmental Flows Within an Adaptive Management Context (the “Savannah Process”) (modified from Richter et al., 2006).

    Incorporating Environmental Flows into Water Management

    Feature: Incorporating environmental flows into water management - Environmental flows defined using the Savannah Process explicitly ignore all real or perceived constraints to their immediate implementation, including those that are physical, legal, social, political, or financial.
  • This issue of Water Resources IMPACT focuses on environmental flows and sustainable water management.

    Water: One Resource, Many Uses

    This originally appeared in a collaborative effort issue of IMPACT with The Nature Conservancy’s Sustainable Waters Program to highlight the cutting-edge work and research the program is conducting. I would like to give a big thanks to Nicole Silk and Andrew Warner of The Nature Conservancy for their hard work in organizing this unique and informative issue as well as their continued dedication to river protection.
  • This issue of Water Resources IMPACT focuses on environmental flows and sustainable water management.

    Introduction: Environmental Flows

    Introduction: Environmental Flows - Allocating water for diverse and often competing traditional uses for water (e.g., industry, agriculture, urban, energy, etc.) is now even more complex due to the implications of climate change. Society’s expectation that ecosystem health receive adequate attention and accommodation has expanded this equation even further.

  • April

    When completed, the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River will be the largest hydroelectric dam in the world.

    Joint team travels to China

    Stan Simpson, a Corps water manager for the Savannah River Basin, recently joined a team from the Conservancy and traveled to China, where a series of dams on the Yangtze are planned. The Conservancy is conducting a series of workshops, led by Andy Warner, to define the environmental flow needs of the river and to find a way to meet the needs of nature and the growing Chinese population, so both can continue to thrive.

  • January

    Dave Feliz, California Fish and Game, finds a mascot (a western yellow racer snake) for the Hydrology for Restoration course during a fieldtrip to the Yolo Basin Wetlands. The Yolo Wetlands Project was one of the first Corps’ 1135 projects.

    Corps and The Nature Conservancy develop joint training

    The Nature Conservancy and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Hydrologic Engineering Center (HEC) are working together to develop training courses that emphasize connections between hydrology and ecology and to outline how those connections can be taken into account in water resource management. Currently, two courses are offered as joint training opportunities, with each course being held once a year through the Corps’ Learning Center.

  • October

    Dr. Richie Kessler, The Nature Conservancy, shows a bottlebrush crayfish to Lisa Morales, Corps headquarters, and John Paul Woodley, Jr., Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, during a visit to Green River.

    Green River Lake and Dam interim plan benefits ecosystem

    This is the third in a series of articles about the Sustainable Rivers Partnership between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and The Nature Conservancy. In 2002, the Corps implemented an interim plan designed with The Nature Conservancy to create more natural regimes of flow and stream temperature by changing the ways that water is released from Green River Dam in Kentucky. In May 2006, the interim plan was approved and officially integrated into the water management policies of Louisville District.
  • The Bill Williams River and floodplain are shown during a time of high release from Alamo Dam. High flows in the Bill Williams are critical for renewing riparian forest and maintaining channel habitat.

    Ecosystem flows defined for Bill Williams River

    Editor’s note: This is the second in a series of articles about the Sustainable Rivers Partnership between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and The Nature Conservancy. The Bill Williams River was one of nine rivers enrolled at the inception of the Sustainable Rivers Project (SRP). The SRP, which started in 2002, is an ongoing nationwide partnership between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and The Nature Conservancy to improve the health and life of rivers by changing the operations of Corps dams, while maintaining or enhancing project benefits.

  • April

    New Savannah Bluff Lock and Dam is shown during the pulse release. When flows in the Savannah exceed 16,000 cubic feet per second, the gates of the structure are raised, which scientists hypothesized would encourage fish passage through the structure.

    River project brings together Corps, The Nature Conservancy

    This is the first in a recurring series of articles about the Sustainable Rivers partnership between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and The Nature Conservancy. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and The Nature Conservancy are collaborating on a broad array of projects, including reservoir management, dam removal, floodplain and wetland restoration, and coastal zone work. Based on number of projects, the Conservancy is now the largest nonfederal sponsor for Corps ecosystem restoration projects.