Stream program (California Dept. of Water
<br />Resources 1988). Small grants are provided to many
<br />local governments.
<br />A number of states including Maine, New York,
<br />Vermont, Maryland, and South Carolina have
<br />underway or have completed statewide river
<br />inventories (NPS 1989; Eugster, this volume;
<br />Morrison, this volume). Special planning efforts
<br />have been completed for individual rivers (e.g.,
<br />the Severn in Maryland) (Davison, this volume).
<br />Local Initiatives
<br />Multiobjective management of river corridors
<br />has become an important objective in local
<br />governments throughout the nation. Perhaps the
<br />most interesting and innovative multiobjective
<br />management efforts and the ones offering the most
<br />important insights into problem-solving approaches
<br />are to be found in the cities and urbanizing
<br />areas. (Coyle, this volume; Thurow et al. 1975;
<br />Riley, in press; Aurelia, this volume; Kusler
<br />1982; National Park Service, in press). Larger
<br />and mid-sized cities have undertaken hundreds of
<br />multiobjective river corridor management programs
<br />for segments of specific rivers. It is estimated
<br />that more than 500 greenway efforts now exist
<br />across the nation. These include a broad range of
<br />creative planning and plan implementation efforts
<br />for rivers and adjacent lands undertaken in cities
<br />as diverse as Denver, Washington, D.C., Baltimore,
<br />Minneapolis, Chicago, Dallas, Austin, Sacramento,
<br />and Boston.
<br />Local efforts include a broad range of greenway
<br />programs. Many of these efforts have been
<br />characterized as "greenways" because they result
<br />in at least partially open linear corridor areas
<br />with a fair amount of grass and trees. But the
<br />goal has often not been grass and trees in
<br />themselves but rather flood conveyance, flood
<br />storage, erosion loss reduction, recreation, water
<br />quality protection, etc. These goals are often
<br />best and most economically served by such open-
<br />space, vegetated areas.
<br />The application of the term "greenway" to these
<br />areas does not imply uniformity in approach and
<br />product. Many involve urban renewal and the
<br />restoration of historic buildings for riverfront
<br />commercial or residential use. Many involve parks,
<br />golf courses, bike paths, walking paths, etc.,
<br />which, while green, are not "natural". Many
<br />involve some measure of stream engineering
<br />including bank stabilization, although restoration
<br />of all or a portion of the bank channel and
<br />wetlands is also common. But most share
<br />multiobjective goals and a variety of other common
<br />denominators such as strong citizen involvement,
<br />innovative financing, and innovative designs.
<br />RIVERINE WETLANDS AND RIPARIAN HABITATS
<br />Location and Description
<br />Protection and, in some instances, restoration
<br />of riverine wetlands and riparian habitats has
<br />become a major component of most federal, state,
<br />and local multiobjective river management programs
<br />Riverine wetlands are located in four principal
<br />locations along river/stream corridors:
<br />In low gradient headwater areas.
<br />Marsh, shrub, and forested wetlands are located
<br />in such areas. These wetlands are usually low
<br />energy and do not have active sediment regimes.
<br />Along the margins of rivers and stream channels.
<br />The wetlands along the margins of streams and
<br />in channels are usually quite narrow and linear
<br />in shape. However, relatively large wetlands
<br />lie within broader channel areas in some
<br />southern river swamps. Most of these wetlands
<br />lie within "floodway" areas. Most of these
<br />wetlands are marshes. These are highly dynamic
<br />systems because of the active water aPd
<br />sediment supply.
<br />On floodplains.
<br />Most riverine wetlands are located on broader
<br />floodplains, often behind natural levees formed
<br />by deposition of sediment during floods.
<br />wetlands here are also located in oxbows or
<br />other depressions in the floodplain or in
<br />groundwater discharge areas on the floodplain.
<br />These floodplain wetlands include the extensive
<br />"bottomland hardwoods" of the Mississippi. They
<br />include marsh, shrub, and forested wetlands.
<br />In estuary and delta areas.
<br />Large estuarine wetland complexes are located
<br />alongside channels, in floodplains, and behind
<br />barrier islands in estuaries in the lower
<br />reaches of many river systems. These wetlands
<br />are subject not only to fluctuations in river
<br />water level but tidal action. Many of these
<br />wetlands are marshes. They are highly dynamic
<br />systems with active sediment (often deposi-
<br />tional) and hydrologic regimes.
<br />Much of the floodplain along the major river
<br />systems in the south, east and part of the midwest
<br />is wet enough to meet federal "wetland" definition
<br />criteria. However, other vegetated floodplain
<br />systems in part of the midwest, the west, and the
<br />southwest do not meet strict wetland definition
<br />criteria although these lands play hydrological
<br />and ecological roles similar to their "wetland"
<br />counterparts. These areas are often referred to as
<br />"riparian habitats" and have been the subject of a
<br />number of national symposia (Johnson 1985).
<br />The Functions and Values of Riverine Wetlands
<br />Riverine wetlands and, in some instances,
<br />"riparian habitats" serve the full range of wet-
<br />land functions outlined in the literature and in
<br />the papers which follow in this proceedings.
<br />However, some functions are particularly important
<br />in a riverine context:
<br />Flood storage.
<br />Riverine wetlands play important flood storage
<br />roles, particularly where the wetlands are
<br />quite large and occupy floodplains upstream to
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