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4 Case Studies of Adaptive Management
Pages 52-82

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From page 52...
... A case study of the Adaptive Management Program at the Glen Canyon Dam and Colorado River ecosystem, in which the Corps is not involved, is included for comparative purposes, as there is a relatively long record of applying adaptive management principles to managing the Colorado River. A case study on the Columbia River, the site of one of the earliest adaptive management applications in a large U.S.
From page 53...
... Case Studies of Adaptive Management 53 Figure 4.1 Greater Everglades Ecosystem.
From page 54...
... In response to these declining ecological trends in the Everglades, the federal Water Resources Development Act of 1992 authorized a comprehensive review of the Central and Southern Florida Project. In 1993, the Corps of Engineers and the South Florida Water Management District began a Comprehensive Review Study (known as the "Restudy")
From page 55...
... Secondly, the Corps was authorized to share in the costs of all operations and maintenance costs of CERP, including the costs of "adaptive assessment and monitoring." The Comprehensive Restoration Plan was developed by the Corps of Engineers in partnership with the South Florida Water Management District, and with participation of several federal and state agencies and extensive public and stakeholder involvement. Its purpose is "to restore, preserve, and protect the South Florida ecosystem while providing for other water-related needs of the region, including water supply and flood protection (WRDA 2000, Title IV, Section 601(b)
From page 56...
... Adaptive Management in the Restoration Plan The Programmatic Regulations for the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan contain definitions regarding adaptive management within the plan: Adaptive management means the process of improving understandings of the natural and human systems in the South Florida ecosystem, specifically as these under standings pertain to the goals and purposes of the Plan, and to seek continuous improvement of the Plan based upon new information resulting from changed or unfore seen circumstances, new scientific or technical informa tion, new or updated models, or information developed through the assessment principles contained in the Plan, or as future authorized changes to the Plan are inte grated into the implementation of the Plan. Assessment means the process whereby the actual per formance of implemented projects is measured and in terpreted based on analyses of information obtained from research, monitoring, modeling, or other relevant sources (68 Fed.
From page 57...
... They make recommendations to the Corps and to the South Florida Water Management District, the latter which both implements and manages the project. The regulations indicate that these organizations are to use reports from RECOVER, reports of an independent scientific review panel (to be convened by the National Research Council)
From page 58...
... But other, more immediate factors such as population growth and associated increased water demands, are currently influencing outcomes and may be amenable to ameliorative actions. An adaptive management approach in the Comprehensive Restoration Plan is an ambitious undertaking.
From page 59...
... These early evaluations of progress and shortcomings not only provide the opportunity for mid-course correction, but also serve as important lessons learned for adaptive ecosystem restoration in other parts of the nation. MISSOURI RIVER DAM AND RESERVOIR SYSTEM The Pick-Sloan Plan The most important and lasting water development project on the Missouri River was the Pick-Sloan Plan.
From page 60...
... . Fort Peck Dam The Missouri River Basin Garrison Dam Mi ss o u r i Minnesota Montana North Dakota Oahe Dam Wyoming South Dakota R Iowa Nebraska iv e r Colorado Kansas 100th Meridian FIGURE 4.2 Missouri River Basin.
From page 61...
... The Corps maintains this 9-foot navigation channel pursuant to the 1945 Missouri River Bank Stabilization and Navigation Project. Since passage of this legislation, recreational use of the mainstem lakes has become much more important to upper basin economies.
From page 62...
... The Corps Master Manual The six mainstem dams and reservoirs that the Corps operates on the Missouri River comprise the core of North America's largest reservoir storage system. The operations guidelines for this system are embodied in the Corps' Missouri River Master Water Control Manual, or "Master Manual," the first version of which was issued in 1960 by the Corps' Omaha office, which codified operations practices developed over the previous decades (Ferrell, 1996)
From page 63...
... In its Final Missouri River Biological Opinion issued in late 2000, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS)
From page 64...
... In July 2003, a federal district court ordered the Corps to temporarily lower Missouri River flows from mid-July to early September in order to comply with the Endangered Species Act. The flow reductions ordered were consistent with flow targets issued in a 2000 Biological Opinion from the U.S.
From page 65...
... river systems, such as the Colorado River and the Upper Mississippi River, and how they might inform adaptive management for the Missouri.
From page 66...
... , which supports a vibrant hunting, sport fishing, and boating enterprise. Ecosystem Monitoring and Science The Upper Mississippi River Environmental Management Program (EMP)
From page 67...
... Case Studies of Adaptive Management 67 FIGURE 4.3 Locks and Dams on the Upper Mississippi River-Illinois Waterway System.
From page 68...
... . Although there is no congressional mandate to manage the Upper Mississippi River according to adaptive management principles, the Corps has been varying the heights of some Upper Mississippi's navigation pools in an effort to reintroduce a degree of natural variability to the ecosystem and thereby improve ecological conditions.
From page 69...
... That committee's report stated: Although there has been some systematic research into the environmental effects of human and social activities on the Upper Mississippi River [the EMP] , the under standing of the complex ecosystem dynamics in the UMR-IWW system is limited in many areas .
From page 70...
... The Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge contains large expanses of publicly-owned backwater and floodplain areas, which allows the Corps some latitude in varying river flows and surface elevations. The drawdowns were implemented in a region where many inhabitants view the Mississippi River as a valuable ecological resource that supports important economic and leisure activities.
From page 71...
... On the Upper Mississippi River, ecological conditions and trends suggest that ecological resilience has been compromised by the lock and dam and navigation pool system and that most key indicators suggest that conditions are not improving. For example, the 1999 USGS report noted the following in regard to floodplain forests: .
From page 72...
... , the Upper Mississippi River Management Act stated that the river was to be recognized as "a nationally significant ecosystem and a nationally significant commercial navigation system" (P.L.
From page 73...
... In the later half of the twentieth century, the federal interest was expanded to include a number of relatively deep navigation channels, such as the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet and Calcasieu Ship Channel, connecting inland ports and waterways with the Gulf of Mexico. These channels caused salt water to intrude into previously freshwater bays, bayous, and wetlands.
From page 74...
... led to a longer-term problem for the Deltaic Plain wetlands. The periodic supply of sediments, fresh water, and nutrients from the Mississippi River has historically built and sustained the wetlands in the face of very high rates of relative sea-level rise due to subsidence of the thick layer of Holocene sediments on which the wetlands sit.
From page 75...
... FIGURE 4.4 Louisiana Coastal Wetlands. SOURCE: Johnston, et al.
From page 76...
... . Led by the New Orleans District office, the Corps is preparing a report to Congress that will seek authorization under the Water Resources Development Act for a comprehensive program to address wetland loss in coastal Louisiana.
From page 77...
... . GLEN CANYON DAM AND THE COLORADO RIVER ECOSYSTEM One of the notable and sustained adaptive management efforts in the United States is the Glen Canyon Adaptive Management Program (AMP)
From page 78...
... The AMP is based on recognition that operations of Glen Canyon Dam have significantly altered downstream ecology of the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon. Section 1802 (a)
From page 79...
... Case Studies of Adaptive Management 79 of Bureau U.S. SOURCE: (Inset)
From page 80...
... Finally, and importantly, the independent review component of the program has never been fully and formally implemented. Lessons from the Adaptive Management Program that may be useful for the Corps include: the value of a congressional act in keeping focused on ecosystem recovery, the difficulties in forging consensus among stakeholders, the uncertainties and disagreements associated with some ecosystem monitoring results, the limitations of science to help establish management actions, and the potential value of (as well as some resistance to)
From page 81...
... Federal resources have been important to improving knowledge of ecological conditions in the Everglades, the Grand Canyon, the Louisiana Coastal Area, and within the Upper Mississippi River's Environmental Management Program. Sustained support
From page 82...
... 82 Adaptive Management for Water Resources Project Planning from Congress for monitoring on the Upper Mississippi has helped synthesize and improve scientific knowledge of the Upper Mississippi River system. Congressional legislation mandating the Everglades restoration effort, establishing the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act, and creating a Grand Canyon Protection Act have legitimated efforts toward improving ecological conditions.


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