Restoration of Aquatic Ecosystems Science, Technology, and Public Policy (1992) / Chapter Skim
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8 A National Restoration Strategy: Basic Elements and Related Recommendations
8 A National Restoration Strategy: Basic Elements and Related Recommendations
Pages 350-376
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From page 350... ...
Recognition of these trends has made environmental restoration a central concern for the next decade. Restoration ecology represents an acknowledged shift in what society demands from its aquatic ecosystems: more environmental services are expected.
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From page 351... ...
Physical restoration of aquatic ecosystems is in many cases the most cost-effective strategy for meeting the increasing public demand for certain kinds of services, including clean water without excessive loadings of sediments and nutrients; populations of fish, ducks, wading birds, shorebirds, and other wildlife; contact and noncontact aquatic recreation; and flood control and natural landscape amenities. However, the current structure of programs and policies is fragmented and may not adequately approach restoration as a challenge requiring management of a whole system.
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From page 352... ...
In other cases, using the natural processes of aquatic ecosystems may be the least costly way to meet these goals. In specific instances, the justifiable intent of restoration must be discovered through planning processes that define and evaluate restoration alternatives and then execute restoration projects stressing an integrated landscape perspective.
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From page 353... ...
The committee recognizes the important and innovative efforts of states across the nation to restore aquatic ecosystems ranging from the California Coastal Conservancy, to the Reinvest in Minnesota Program, to the coordinated state efforts to restore large systems such as the Great Lakes and the Chesapeake Bay. However, because much of the modification to aquatic ecosystems has been directed by federal programs or in response to federal incentives, a federal emphasis has been given to the recommendations that follow.
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From page 354... ...
However, as a practical matter, goals will be more useful in policy design if they are stated in terms of the aquatic ecosystem components used in this study lakes, rivers and streams, and wetlands as is the case with the no-net-loss of wetlands goal. As stated earlier in this chapter, a call for a national restoration strategy and the ability to reach the recommended goals may, in some instances be very expensive and include economic impacts, particularly where major physical alterations are needed as part of the restoration process.
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From page 355... ...
2. A National Aquatic Ecosystem Assessment Process Should Monitor the Achievement of the Nation' Goals for Wetlands, Rivers, and Lakes To devise effective physical restoration programs for different kinds of aquatic ecosystems, it would be very useful for Congress, federal
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From page 356... ...
The technical success of aquatic ecosystem restoration requires integrated consideration of the various structural components of the watershed in order to reestablish the matrix of chemical, hydrologic, and biological processes that have been compromised by human actions. Successful restoration will be achieved only if these individual actions and individual perspectives recognize the system (ecoregion and more immediate landscape)
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From page 357... ...
This statement, which is supported by the historical breakdown of expert-based watershed planning processes for water development projects, is truer today. As more is learned about aquatic ecosystems and the social context within which they exist, we realize how much more there is to know.
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From page 358... ...
Evaluation and Ranking of Restoration Alternatives Should Be Based on an Assessment of Opportunity Cost Rather than on Traditional Benefit-Cost Analysis The challenge in restoration management is to evaluate trade-offs not only between restoration and the current state of the aquatic ecosystem, but also between alternative approaches to restoration. No computational procedure by itself will establish either how far restoration should proceed or the relative priorities for funding alternative restoration efforts.
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From page 359... ...
in determining the extent of justifiable mitigation for environmental damages done by a water development project. The COE mitigation analysis prohibits the use of solely economic measures of environmental values.
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From page 360... ...
The reauthorization of the Clean Water Act of 1977 in this Congress should request that a lead federal agency (see Recommendation 9) prepare a report on major aquatic ecosystems that should be restored, with a description of the national ecological and social benefits of such restoration and an identification of the federal programs that could be retargeted to provide federal financial and technical assistance for such restoration as part of a unified national program for aquatic ecosystem restoration (see Recommendation 8~.
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From page 361... ...
Successful restoration at the landscape level will depend on program coordination among those responsible for management decisions on the separate aquatic ecosystem components. Major federal leadership in aquatic ecosystem restoration projects is warranted in at least three instances: where such projects are the most cost-effective approach to achieving flood control or other traditional water development missions; where aquatic ecosystems to be restored have regional, national, or even international biological significance; and where federal water development projects have historically been a dominant factor in degradation of an aquatic ecosystem.
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From page 362... ...
9. The Development of a Unified National Program for Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration Should Be Facilitated, and Then Maintained, Under the Leadership of a Single Responsible Organizational Unit Creation of a unified national program for aquatic ecosystem restoration requires improved interagency communication.
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From page 363... ...
10. Current and Proposed Federal Programs Should Exploit Available Opportunities for Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration Programs of many agencies of the federal government might be enlisted to achieve national aquatic ecosystem restoration goals.
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From page 364... ...
Clean Lakes Program restorations should be coordinated with fisheries improvement programs, waterfowl enhancement programs, and restorations of wetland and stream ecosystems that interact with the target lake. EPA CONSTRUCTION GRANTS PROGRAM Current grant-in-aid programs, present throughout the federal government, should encourage aquatic ecosystem restoration.
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From page 365... ...
Revisions made to flood insurance and disaster aid programs that will evacuate from the floodplain those activities whose location is subsidized by these programs could help reduce future flood losses and help restore aquatic systems (NRC, 1990~. Thus, it will be possible to move toward actuarially sound insurance premiums for the remaining properties and to minimize future disaster assistance payments.
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From page 366... ...
Congress should amend the Water Resources Development Act of 1986 and other acts, authorizing the federal water development agencies to identify such projects and plan for their Reconstruction. Federal development funds that are saved, and other programs such as the Agricultural Wetland Reserve Program, could be used to acquire easements on private lands that could be affected hydrologically by such Reconstruction.
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From page 367... ...
Both the construction agencies and other federal, or nonfederal entities should be aggressively seeking new restoration opportunities. Grant-in-aid and water project construction agency programs are but two vehicles by which aquatic ecosystem restoration might be served within traditional agency missions.
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From page 368... ...
INNOVATION IN FINANCING AND IN USE OF LAND AND WATER MARKETS 11. Congress Should Establish a National Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration Trust Fund Perhaps the most significant obstacles to large-scale restoration are the absence of budget incentives for agency cooperation and the absence of adequate funds for executing restoration plans.
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From page 369... ...
Electric power from federally financed hydroelectric dams could be auctioned to private power producers. The proceeds could be contributed to the trust fund to be used to pay for regional aquatic ecosystem restorations.
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From page 370... ...
13. Congress Should Allow States and Local Governments to Trade Federal Funds Designated for Development, Construction, Maintenance, and Major Repair of Water Projects and to Obtain Instead Funds for Aquatic Restoration Programs The discussion of Recommendation 11 describes circumstances in which it makes economic sense for federal water development agencies not to maintain, repair, or rebuild a federal project.
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From page 371... ...
The U.S. Government Should Encourage Water Pollution Credit Trading Programs to Finance Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration Many lakes, rivers, wetlands, and estuaries are suffering from excessive loadings of nutrients.
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From page 372... ...
16. The Federal Government and State Governments Should Encourage the Trading of Water Rights to Promote Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration Many aquatic ecosystems suffer from inadequate flows of water due to man-made diversions.
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From page 373... ...
17. Federal and State Agencies Should Cooperatively Design Landowner-Financed Regional Restoration Projects Under the Section 404 program, EPA and COE follow a sequencing procedure that requires permit applicants first to avoid, through alternatives, then to minimize, and finally to compensate for damage permitted to wetlands within aquatic ecosystems.
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From page 374... ...
However, in some cases it may be possible to modify the Section 404 permit program and constraints on development, such as density limits and zoning regulations, to achieve restoration of critical components with the aquatic ecosystem. This restoration could include large numbers of wetlands designated in accordance with a system restoration plan developed cooperatively by a municipality or state, COE and EPA and could be naid for through the permit processes.
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From page 375... ...
A central theme of this report is that there is much to learn about the physical, chemical, and biological restoration of aquatic ecosystems. The committee has continually stressed the need for adaptive management as particular aquatic ecosystems are targeted for restoration.
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From page 376... ...
As scientists and citizens learn more about how to put aquatic ecosystems back together to some extent by trying new approaches-they must simultaneously learn how to make policies and programs to serve such ends. REFERENCES Clean Water Act of 1977.
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