Lessons Learned in Facilitating Success in Stream Restoration as a BMP.
Stream restoration has been a hot topic over the last few years. Once upon a time it was the way to go in order to help achieve your Chesapeake Bay and local stream TMDL compliance in Virginia. Over the last decade, the attitude and approach to these projects have evolved. As anything in the industry, as more of these projects were constructed, lessons were learned along the way. With streams being such a dynamic circumstance, you must be proactive and think ahead. Once you think you have everything covered, you must be ready to adapt to the curveball mother nature is going to send you. This presentation will not just focus on successes, but on some of the speed bumps a project can encounter, slowing or potentially ending a project before it’s even started. The Chesapeake Bay Program and the Water Research Foundation have used information from local stream restoration projects to develop procedures for quantifying water quality benefits and improvements in stream functioning (i.e., functional lift) resulting from stream restoration activities. This presentation will describe the evolving use of stream restoration as a BMP and will engage the audience with questions/answers on improvements needed in the methodology and lessons learned. Topics like how to select sites, solve problems, connect floodplains, and conduct efficient monitoring to improve the success of stream restoration as a BMP will be covered. The goal is to give the audience a different perspective on this key element of TMDL compliance in VA.
Author Bio
Mr. Davis serves as the Water Market Leader for Virginia, DC and Maryland with Arcadis. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering Technology from Old Dominion University. Travis’ project portfolio includes water, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure evaluation, design, and construction.
