agenda

November 12-14, 2002

Bear Mountain Inn
Bear Mountain, New York

Hosts: New York City Department of Environmental Protection; Association of State Wetland Managers; International Institute for Wetland Science and Public Policy; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Division of Wetlands; New York Department of Environmental Conservation; USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service; and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Sponsors:
· U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Division of Wetlands
· U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Watershed Division
· U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 2, Wetlands Division
· USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
· U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program
· KCI Technologies, Inc.

Cooperating Parties:
· U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Division of Wetlands
· U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water
· U.S. Geological Survey
· NYS Floodplain/Stormwater Managers Association
· Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
· New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
· Izaak Walton League of America, Inc.
· Milone and McBroom, Inc.
· American Rivers
· Society of Wetland Scientists - Mid Atlantic Chapter
· National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
· New York State Wetlands Forum, Inc.

Director: Jon Kusler, Associate Director, Association of State Wetland Managers and the International Institute for Wetland Science and Public Policy

Workshop/Training Goals: To promote and build the capabilities of local governments, states, federal agencies, not for profits and others in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast to more effectively protect and restore streams, floodplains, and associated wetlands in source water management and watershed contexts. More specific goals include:

·       Help attendees understand river stability and natural channel design concepts and how these concepts can be integrated into stream, wetland, floodplain, source water, and watershed protection and restoration,
·       Provide attendees with guidance concerning techniques and approaches for improving the effectiveness of stream, floodplain, and wetland restoration,
·       Help attendees understand how to initiate, plan, fund, and implement a stream, floodplain, or riverine wetland river restoration project, and
·       Develop a Mid-Atlantic/Northeastern network of federal, state, and local agency staff, not for profits, academics, consultants and others interested in stream stability and natural channel design as related to source water protection and watershed management.

Need for the Workshop and Training Session: Our understanding of stream, floodplain, and wetland resources is rapidly growing and changing. Although the U.S. and many other countries have been altering rivers, streams, wetlands and other water resources for hundreds of years, only in recent years has the protection and restoration of these resources become a priority in watershed management. This reflects an important movement away from single objective management strategies of the past (for example flood loss reduction) to integration of multiple uses, functions and values in wetland, stream, floodplain and watershed management.

The maintenance and restoration of streams, floodplains, and associated wetlands as a goal in watershed management and land use planning has many benefits:

·       It can help protect water supplies from sediment and other pollutants,
·       It can help reduce flood losses,
·       It can help reduce erosion losses,
·       It can help protect and restore wetland, steam, and watershed habitat,
·       It can help meet broader recreation, greenway, and open space goals, and
·       It can facilitate the monitoring of wetland, stream, and watershed protection and restoration efforts by establishing a common goal for such efforts and by documenting base-line conditions at various points in time.

There is increasing recognition from the science, engineering, and water resource management communities that thoughtful, adaptive and multiobjective river corridor management strategies can be best implemented on a watershed basis.

Invitees: Local, state and federal resource protection and watershed management agency staff (planning, engineering, floodplain, riparian area, riverine wetland, stream, public land management), not for profit staff, academics, consultants, landowners and all others interested.

Agenda and Lists of Topics

Day 1. Tuesday, November 12.

9:00a.m.-1:00p.m. Registration and Exhibit/Poster Setups

1:00p.m.-3:15p.m. Improving the Effectiveness of Restoration. Plenary Session.

w        Welcome. Christopher Ward, Commissioner, New York City Department of Environmental Protecion
w         Improving Effectiveness: National Overview of Issues and Approaches. Jon Kusler, Association of State Wetland Managers
w         Building An Understanding of Streams and Stream Management in the New York City Watershed. Elizabeth Reichheld and Phillip Eskeli, Stream Management Program, New York City Department of Environmental Protection
w         Advances in Stream Stability and Natural Channel Design for Stream and Floodplain Restoration.  J. Craig Fischenich, Fisch Engineering

3:15p.m.-3:35p.m. Afternoon Break

3:35p.m.-5:30p.m. Improving the Effectiveness of Restoration. Plenary Session Continued.

w         Rapid Assessment of Stream and Floodplains Through Innovative Technologies. Donald Roseboom and Tim Straub, U.S. Geological Survey
w         Restoring River Ecosystems Through Dam Removal and Natural Channel Design.  James MacBroom, Milone & MacBroom, Inc. and Laura Wildman, American Rivers
w         No Adverse Impact Floodplain Management As a Guide for Community Planning.  Larry Larson, Association of State Floodplain Managers

5:30p.m.-6:30p.m. Mixer and Poster Session

6:30p.m.-8:00p.m. Dinner on Your Own

8:00p.m.-9:30p.m. Applying Hydrogeomorphic (Rosgen et al.), Hydrologic/Hydraulic Models, Other Models: How Does the Practitioner Decide What to Apply? Panel (12-15 minutes each followed by general discussion):

J. Craig Fishenich, Fisch Engineering
James MacBroom, Milone & MacBroom, Inc.
Wendi Goldsmith, The Bioengineering Group, Inc.
Robert Glennon, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service      

Day 2. Wednesday. November 13

7:30a.m.-8:30a.m. Continental Breakfast

8:30a.m.-3:00p.m. Training Workshops (Simultaneous Breakout Sessions)

For all sessions except the field trip there will be a 10:30a.m.-10:50a.m. Coffee Break and 12:00p.m.-1:30p.m. Lunch Break. Lunch discussion tables (optional).

w         Training Workshop 1. (8:30a.m.-3:00p.m.) Natural Stream Channel Design 101. Concepts and Models, Understanding Fluvial Processes—The Basis for Advanced Design. J. Craig Fischenich, Fisch Engineering and others.

w      Developing Design Criteria
w      Reference, Empirical and Analytical Design Tools
w      Formulating a Detailed Design

w         Training Workshop 2. (8:30a.m.-3:00p.m.) Dam Removal to Restore River Ecological Integrity. James MacBroom and Jeanine Armstrong Bonin, Milone & MacBroom, Inc. and Laura Wildman, American Rivers, Douglas Sheppard, New York Department of Environmental Conservation

This workshop will focus upon the issues and techniques for removal of dams to restore the ecological integrity of rivers and streams. It will address preliminary and more detailed assessments for candidate dams, project design, and project implementation including removal of sediments. Case study examples will be provided.

w         Training Workshop 3a. (8:30a.m.-12:00p.m.) No Adverse Impact Floodplain Management and Stream Restoration.  Larry Larson, Association of State Floodplain Managers, William Nechamen, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, and Jon Kusler, Association of State Wetland Managers

Flood losses in the nation are increasing unnecessarily.  Communities need to consider flood loss reduction approaches which are more effective then current national approaches.  These approaches must move from "how to build in the floodplain" to "what are the cumulative impacts of current and future development on other properties".   To avoid transferring flooding problems from one property to another, and to reduce community liability, the No Adverse Impact goal presents communities with viable options. This session will cover the building blocks which a community can use to reduce its risk exposure and flood damages including restoration of floodplain areas. The New York flood mapping program will be addressed. Legal issues with a no adverse impact approach will also be considered.

w         Case Studies Workshop 3b. (1:15p.m.-3:00p.m.)

w         Gwyn Rowland, Izaak Walton League of America, Inc.
w         A Wetland and Riparian Habitat Assessment of Restoration Need in the Poultney River Watershed in New York and Vermont – A Cast Study. Mary Droege, The Nature Conservancy
w         Landowner Preferences for Wetland Restoration Programs. Evan Mercer, U.S. Forest Service
w         Beavers, the Fur Trade, and Stream Restoration. Skip Lisle, Beaver Deceivers, Inc.   

The goal of this workshop session is to present case studies concerning stream restoration including assessment, design, public involvement and implementation by not for profits and other groups. 

w         Training Workshop 4. (8:30a.m.-3:00p.m.) Protecting Drinking Water Supplies Through Stream Restoration, Watershed Planning, Best Management Practices and Other Measures. Mark Vian and Elizabeth Reichheld, Stream Management Program, New York City Department of Environmental Protection, Chi Ho Sham, The Cadmus Group, Inc. and James Hyde, New York Department of Health.

This workshop will focus upon the protection of drinking water supplies. The workshop will begin with the New York Department of Environmental Protection.  Stream restoration projects ideally should be developed in the context of watershed scale assessments and comprehensive plans that are derived from broad based public involvement. The NYCDEP Stream Management Program will present their experience in developing a sub basin-scale stream management plan through a case study for the Stony Clove Creek, a rural Catskill Mountain watershed densely developed along the stream corridor and considered a high contributor to suspended sediment to NYC's Ashokan Reservoir.

This will be followed by a brief description of the New York State source water assessment effort. Then, a four-hour course concerning planning and best management practices to protect drinking water supplies which has been prepared and will be presented by Cadamus Group, Inc. for the drinking water program in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.   This training course will provide introductory-level training materials on best management practices and other preventive measures for about a dozen different sources of contamination that threaten source water.

Field Training Workshop 5. (8:30a.m.-3:00p.m.) Getting Your Project on the Ground. Restoration Field Training (Limited to 1 busload. Extra fee required.) Lecture and Field Trip. Rene Van Schaack, Greene County Soil & Water Conservation District and Others

After the assessment is done in a stream restoration project and the design is in hand, the hard work begins. In this session, participants will visit a number of completed as well as proposed restoration sites in the Catskills. The session will cover a practical discussion of what it takes to successfully implement a restoration project on the ground.  The session will cover working with private landowners, methods of contracting, project staging, obtaining suitable materials, project dewatering, sediment control, construction techniques and many other items that are essential to a successful project.  This informal field session will provide an opportunity to visit some interesting project sites and facilitate discussion on project implementation.

12:00p.m.-1:15p.m. Lunch Discussion Tables (Optional). Each table will address a different topic. Topics will include but not be limited to:

w         Integrating Stream Restoration and Soruce Water Protection. Moderator: Marjorie Wesley Copeland, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Chi Ho Sham, The Cadmus Group, Inc.
w         Dam Removal. Moderator: James MacBroom, Milone & MacBroom, Inc.
w         Advances in Stream Stability and Natural Channel Design. Moderator: J. Craig Fischenich, Fisch Engineering
w         Hudson River Restoration. Moderator:  Betsy Blair, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
w        Legal Issues.  Moderator:  Jon Kusler, Association of State Wetland Managers
w        New York Wetlands Forum.  Moderator:  Jennifer Brady Connor, Association of State Wetland Managers
w        Stream Restoration Methods and Approaches. Moderator:  Donald Roseboom and Tim Straub, U.S. Geological Survey
w        Stream Restoration and Stream Biology.  Moderator:  Barry Baldigo, U.S. Geological Survey

3:00p.m.-4:30p.m.  (Optional) Walking Field Trip to the Hudson River and Discussion of Restoration (Below the Inn). Betsy Blair, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation

4:30p.m.-5:30p.m. Cash Bar and Mixer at the Overlook Lodge

5:30p.m.-6:45p.m.  Continuation of Cash Bar at the Overlook Lodge With Presentations and Discussion: Facilitating Regulatory Permitting for Restoration Projects While Protecting River Resources
Panel: (12-15 minutes each):

w Obtaining Department of the Army Permits for Restoration Projects. Christine Delorier, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
w J. Craig Fishenich, Fisch Engineering
w James MacBroom, Milone & MacBroom, Inc.
w JaRene Van Schaack, Greene County Soil & Water Conservation District.

Day 3. Thursday. November 14

7:30a.m.-8:30a.m. Continental Breakfast

8:30a.m.-10:00a.m. Plenary Session

w         Integrating Computer and Field Based Assessments to Identify and Evaluate Riparian and Wetland Restoration Opportunities.  David Burke, Maryland Department of Natural Resources
w         Habitat Protection in the Hudson River Estuary: A Comprehensive Approach. Betsy Blair, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
w         Watershed Protection, Restoration, and Planning Using VT ANR Stream Geomorphic Assessment Protocols. Michael Kline, Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation

10:00a.m.-10:25a.m. Coffee Break

10:25a.m.-11:50a.m. Plenary Session Continued.

w         Pennsylvania Initiatives in Stream Restoration. Stacey Cromer, Caanan Valley Institute
w         Assisted Stream Restoration. Donald Roseboom and Tim Straub, U.S. Geological Survey
w         Developing Design Guidelines for Stream Restoration. Kerry Robinson, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service

11:50a.m.-1:15p.m. Lunch Discussion Tables. (Optional). Each table will address a different topic. Topics will include but not be limited to:

w         Integrating Stream Restoration and Source Water Protection. Moderator:  Jori Wesley Copeland, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
w         Dam Removal. Moderator:  James MacBroom, Milone & MacBroom, Inc.
w         Advances in Stream Stability and Natural Channel Design. Moderator to be determined.
w        No Adverse Impact Floodplain Management.  Moderator:  William Nechamen, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
w         Smart Growth and Restoration. Moderator:  David Burke, Maryland Department of Natural Resources
w         Hudson River Restoration. Moderator:  Betsy Blair, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
w               Legal Issues.  Moderator:  Jon Kusler, Association of State Wetland Managers
w         Stream Restoration Methods and Approaches. Moderator:  Donald Roseboom and Tim Straub, U.S. Geological Survey
w        Nature Conservancy-Fresh Water Initiative.  Moderator:  David Braun, The Nature Conservancy 

1:15p.m.-3:30p.m.

w         Creative Design for Urban Watershed Complexity. Wendi Goldsmith, The Bioengineering Group, Inc.
w         Stream Restoration in Urban/Developing Watersheds—White Marsh Example. Donald Miller and Alan Schlindwein, KCI Technologies, Inc.
w         Stream Restoration and the Improvement of Stream Fisheries and Other Wildlife. Panel: (20 minutes each.)

w     Effects of Restoration on Fish Communities in Streams of the Catskill Mountain Region. Barry Baldigo, U.S. Geological Survey
w      Conserving Riverine Biodiversity at Multiple Scales. David Braun, The Nature Conservancy
w      Restoration of Big Bear Creek Watershed – A Biological Perspective on Stream Restoration. Mel Zimmerman, Lycoming College

3:30p.m.-3:35p.m. Wrap Up.

For more information contact: The Association of State Wetland Managers (ASWM), P.O. Box 269, Berne, NY 12023-9746; 518-872-1804; Fax: 518-872-2171; E-mail: aswm@aswm.org