Leveraging Big Data Towards Functionally-Based, Catchment Scale Restoration Prioritization

Abstract

The persistence of freshwater degradation has necessitated the growth of an expansive stream and wetland restoration industry, yet restoration prioritization at broad spatial extents is still limited and ad-hoc restoration prevails. The River Basin Restoration Prioritization tool has been developed to incorporate vetted, distributed data models into a catchment scale restoration prioritization framework. Catchment baseline condition and potential improvement with restoration activity is calculated for all National Hydrography Dataset stream reaches and catchments in North Carolina and compared to other catchments within the river subbasin to assess where restoration efforts may best be focused. Hydrologic, water quality, and aquatic habitat quality conditions are assessed with peak flood flow, nitrogen and phosphorus loading, and aquatic species distribution models. The modular nature of the tool leaves ample opportunity for future incorporation of novel and improved datasets to better represent the holistic health of a watershed, and the nature of the datasets used herein allow this framework to be applied at much broader scales than North Carolina.

Integrating principles and tools of decision science into value‐driven watershed planning for compensatory mitigation

“…Initially, participants framed the entirety of the decision context on biogeophysical characteristics-restoring or enhancing the lost functionality of aquatic ecosystems (i.e., the physical, chemical, and biological processes that occur in aquatic ecosystems) as the result of development activities (Harman et al, 2012). Under this initial framework, catchments were to be scored based on their functional uplift potential, in other words, the degree to which any given mitigation activity was likely to improve physical, chemical, or biological (e.g., water quality, hydrology or habitat) conditions in an aquatic ecosystem (Lovette et al, 2018). This approach thus requires quantifying potential future functional improvements that compensatory activities could attain relative to present conditions.…”

Identifying corridors of river recovery in coastal NSW Australia, for use in river management decision support and prioritisation systems

“…This fragmentation can occur as a result of natural and/or anthropogenic disturbances [ 33 ]. Identifying where corridors remain ‘intact’ and where fragmentation has occurred provides an information base with which to determine how to best protect them, or build them [ 30 , 45 , 48 ]. Examining corridor and fragmentation characteristics of river systems also provides insights into the factors which facilitate or constrain recovery, which is critical for effective river management [ 33 , 49 ].…”

“…A range of feasibility and environmental criteria and methods can be used to analyse and identify reaches that connect to each other to create river corridors for conservation and rehabilitation. This analysis can be based on current condition, or the potential for adjustment and/or recovery of riparian, geomorphic or hydrologic characteristics [ 30 , 45 , 48 , 50 – 53 ]. Protecting reaches that are currently in good condition and rehabilitating those that will enhance the recovery potential of the corridor, generally yields more effective rehabilitation outcomes than expending effort and resources on rehabilitating more degraded streams that are often the cause of corridor fragmentation [ 53 ].…”

Digital data and practice change: the impact of innovative web portals on user knowledge building and decision-making processes

“…The attention of scientists, researchers and governments alike is on the potential application of digital data to guide new inquiries and discoveries, with an emerging need to balance what can be achieved and further understand the characteristic and qualities of available data (Janssen et al. , 2017; Lovette et al. , 2018; Selwyn, 2015).…”