ITHACA, N.Y. - Managing a river to maintain minimum water flow or sustain a single "important species" is like teaching pet tricks to a wolf: The animal may perform, but its not much of a wolf anymore.
That is the conclusion of a six-university panel of river experts whose report, "The Natural Flow Regime: A Paradigm for River Conservation and Restoration," is published in the December 1997 issue of the journal BioScience (Vol. 47, pp. 769784). Letting a river do its own thing - come drought or high water - is more complicated than anyone realized until recently, the panel agrees, but at least scientists now know why natural flow is important and how to help.
"It is now clear that natural river systems can and should be allowed to repair and maintain themselves," said N. LeRoy Poff, a biologist at Colorado State University. "Every river system is different, and each will take a different mix of human-aided and natural recovery methods. But
the key to management of healthy river ecosystems has to revolve around restoring their natural dynamic character."
The scientists said there's more to natural flow than tolerating the occasional "100-year flood" or creating human-made floods. Mey identified five often overlooked components of a river's flow regime (magnitude, frequency, duration, timing and rate of change), saying: "Modification of flow has cascading effects on the ecological integrity of rivers."
The river scientists said they hoped the report by presenting state-of-the-art knowledge about the importance of natural variability to aquatic and riparian ecosystems - will help river managers and agencies make the argument that unfettered rivers have multiple benefits for nature and for human society.
Contact:Roger Segelken: (607) 255-9736 or e-mail: hrs2@comell.edu
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