Riverscapes Health Resources
Riverscapes, which include streams and rivers and the connected floodplain, channel areas, and shallow aquifers that make up valley bottoms, are critical natural infrastructure and disproportionately valuable parts of the landscape. When healthy, they filter water pollution, support habitat for fish and other wildlife, form natural firebreaks, buffer the effects of drought and flood on communities and ecosystems, and support BLM’s overall multiple use and sustained yield mission. However, many riverscapes have been adversely impacted by historic and current uses and no longer provide the scope and scale of desired ecosystem services.
Given these factors, the need for restoration often exceeds available resources. Managers must prioritize project opportunities (e.g. select the right streams & treatment methods) that will produce the greatest returns on restoration investments and ensure restoration actions achieve desired outcomes. To assist, the BLM has partnered with Utah State University (USU) and the Riverscapes Consortium (RC) to produce corresponding data, analysis tools, workflows, training materials, a community engagement platform, and data exchange that practitioners can use to plan, design, implement, and track riverscape restoration efforts across all lands in the Western U.S. In-depth descriptions of tools and resources are below: