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Published online 17 January 2008 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2008.448
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What does a natural stream look like?
The legacy of mill dams muddies the water for river restorers.
Ecologists working to restore streams in the eastern United States have been using a misguided ideal, according to new research.
The picturesque notion, supported by many ecologists, that a stream untouched by human hands meanders in a single S-shaped channel with high vertical banks seems to be wrong.
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I am the restoration practitioner working w/ Merritts & Walter in the mentioned 2008 PA project. Rest assured present day influences and watershed conditions are being considered of which "legacy sediment" is such an influence. Realizing and accounting for the presence of legacy sediment should be a design consideration along with other factors such as flow rates, sediment transport, habitat, etc. Mark A. Metzler - RETTEW Associates, Inc.
I am a restoration practitioner in Montana. I realize conditions are very different here than in the eastern US, but it seems to me the historic "pristine" conditions described in the article would indicate widespread beaver influence. I didn't see any mention of beaver in any of the summaries I have seen, and I have not read the full research articles, but have read that the beaver population in the US is now just a fraction of what it once was, as a result of widespread trapping during European colonization. Estimates of current beaver pop.s range from 5%-20% of the historic population. Any thoughts on this? My apologies if the full articles discuss historic beaver influence. Amy Chadwick - Watershed Consulting, Inc.