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Our failure to protect the stream and its valley: A call to back off from riparian development

dc.contributor.authorCooke, Steven
dc.contributor.authorVermaire, Jesse
dc.contributor.authorBaulch, Helen
dc.contributor.authorBirnie-Gauvin, Kim
dc.contributor.authorTwardek, William
dc.contributor.authorRicharson, John S.
dc.date.accessioned2023-08-18T21:14:45Z
dc.date.available2023-08-18T21:14:45Z
dc.date.issued2022
dc.descriptionFreshwater Science, volume 41, number 2, June 2022. © 2022 The Society for Freshwater Science. All rights reserved. Published by The University of Chicago Press for the Society for Freshwater Science. https://doi.org/10.1086/719958en_US
dc.description.abstractDecades ago, Dr Noel Hynes eloquently summarized the inherent interconnectedness of a stream and its valley and made the case that human alteration of the valley would have direct negative consequences for freshwater systems. Currently, the freshwater biodiversity crisis extends across all continents and demands urgent attention from environmental planners, practitioners, and policymakers to protect streams and their valleys. As we work to slow losses of freshwater biodiversity and restore freshwater ecosystems, it is time to revisit the important messages from Hynes. One of the most obvious and immediate actions that could be undertaken is to “back off”—that is, to limit human activity and new development in floodplain and riparian areas immediately adjacent to freshwater systems, including streams, rivers, lakes, and wetlands, while minimizing impacts and risks in areas with existing development. From reducing erosion and flood damage to maintaining cool water temperatures, filtering pollutants, protecting critical habitats, and enabling lateral connectivity, intact riparian zones mitigate many of the threats that degrade freshwater ecosystems. There has been much research to identify optimal setbacks and buffer-strip widths to protect against harm. As such, in many areas, our ability to protect the stream and its valley is not limited by natural science but rather our failure to consistently apply floodplain and riparian regulations and the absence of political will. We are too quick to trade off the environment for short-term economic development. In areas that are already developed, solutions are more complicated but, in many cases, represent a key priority for healing damaged ecosystems and for addressing economic and social risks of vulnerable development. We need to redefine our relationship with freshwater ecosystems, and the first step is to back off and give freshwater ecosystems the opportunity to heal while ensuring that as-of-yet intact riparian areas continue to support freshwater resiliency. In doing so, we will also gain climate adaptive benefits, given that maintaining intact riparian areas is an effective nature-based solution.en_US
dc.description.versionPeer Revieweden_US
dc.identifier.citationCooke, S.J., Vermaire, J.C., Baulch, H.M., Birnie-Gauvin, K., Twardek, W.M., Richardson, J.S. (2022). Our failure to protect the stream and its valley: A call to back off from riparian development. Freshwater Science, Volume 41, Number 2. https://doi.org/10.1086/719958en_US
dc.identifier.doi10.1086/719958
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10388/14906
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherThe University of Chicago Pressen_US
dc.rightsAttribution-NoDerivs 2.5 Canada*
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.5/ca/*
dc.subjectBiodiversityen_US
dc.subjectclimate changeen_US
dc.subjectfloodplainen_US
dc.subjectfresh wateren_US
dc.subjectmanagementen_US
dc.subjectripariaen_US
dc.titleOur failure to protect the stream and its valley: A call to back off from riparian developmenten_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

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