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developed a variety of new and innovative <br />approaches for goal-setting in particular river <br />and river corridor contexts, and for planning, <br />coordination of programs, constituency-building <br />and financing of efforts. These include various <br />special area management planning approaches, river <br />corridor planning efforts for particular rivers or <br />segments of rivers, stormwater planning and <br />management programs, stormwater utility <br />approaches, and other financing mechanisms. <br />Guidebooks have also been developed that describe <br />the implementation of these approaches (National <br />Park Service 1986; NY DEC 1986). <br />IMPEDIMENTS TO IMPLEMENTATION <br />Despite the advantages, multiobjective river <br />corridor management efforts continue to face <br />impediments: <br />- Traditional approaches have great momentum. <br />Many factors favor continuation of old approaches. <br />It is perhaps human nature to apply "familiar" <br />solutions to problems. Traditional engineering <br />approaches are all that many design professionals <br />(engineers, water resources planners) know. Such <br />approaches are the only ones which have been <br />taught in schools. In addition, engineers have a <br />fear of legal liability in applying new designs <br />which may not perform as anticipated. Beyond this, <br />the entire set of relationships and friendships <br />that water resources agencies, engineers, and <br />contractors have developed over a period of years <br />tend to support traditional approaches. <br />Traditional engineering projects often involve <br />substantial contracting and jobs for an area; <br />natural area protection does not. <br />- Most federal, state, and (to a lesser extent) <br />local river management programs continue to be <br />single purpose or for a small number of purposes. <br />Individual government programs usually continue to <br />be designed to serve a primary objective or a <br />small number of objectives. Given limited <br />statutory or program objectives, it is often <br />difficult for staff of single-objective agencies <br />to undertake multiobjective projects, fund such <br />projects, or even provide technical assistance for <br />such projects. There are few incentives for <br />coordination among agencies and, in many <br />instances, out and out turf battles when one <br />agency attempts to do something that overlaps with <br />activities of another agency. Efforts to achieve <br />various objectives may conflict (particularly when <br />traditional approaches are applied) and agencies <br />then often "battle it out" rather than seek <br />multiobjective solutions. Or, they may simply <br />avoid multiobjective situations where their <br />jurisdictions may overlap. <br />- There is often little incentive for agencies, <br />groups or organizations to cooperate as long as <br />they have enough money and/or political support to <br />carry out single objective management. Agencies <br />often have little incentive to cooperate with <br />other agencies, providing they can carry out their <br />primary mission without such cooperation. <br />Cooperation is often viewed as time-consuming and <br />adding complexity. It may involve compromising <br />"turf" and sharing credit for successful efforts. <br />Cooperative mechanisms may also be lacking or <br />inadequate. <br />- Multidisciplinary expertise is lacking. <br />Individual experts whose skills and knowledge are <br />needed for multiobjective assessments, designs, <br />and implementation are not widely available. Those <br />designing river corridor projects often have <br />limited knowledge outside of their immediate areas <br />of expertise. Hydrologists often know little about <br />sediment transport and bank stability problems or <br />about biological aspects of river management. <br />Biologists and botanists often know little about <br />hydrology, erosion, or engineering design. <br />Engineers often know a fair amount about hydrology <br />but little about sediment or biology or botany. <br />Planners often have limited knowledge of <br />hydrology, geology, botany or biology. These <br />individuals may not only have limited knowledge of <br />these disciplines, but they may view with mistrust <br />individuals with other expertise. <br />- There are inadequate design manuals and <br />training for multiobjective approaches. Despite <br />quite widespread use of various "soft engineering" <br />approaches in the last decade, there have been <br />limited studies to determine how well such <br />approaches perform in major flood events and even <br />less written on the topic. Design manuals <br />concerning various innovative design techniques <br />are not widely available, nor has training been <br />provided to planners, engineers, local govern- <br />ments, and other key decision-makers and design <br />professionals. <br />- The data base and modelling capabilities are <br />improved but have limitations. Although the data <br />and map base has greatly improved during the last <br />decade, certain types of data are lacking (e.g., <br />erosion and sedimentation) and maps are often at <br />too small a scale for detailed planning and <br />management (e.g. 1/24,000). In addition, most of <br />the flood hazard and water quality data-gathering <br />and mapping to date has been for larger rivers and <br />streams with little data available for smaller <br />water bodies. Finally, modeling capabilities have <br />been improved but much remains to be done to <br />develop adequate predictive capability with regard <br />to flood storage and conveyance, erosion, sediment <br />transport, the response of streams to changes in <br />sediment regime, and wetland restoration and <br />creation. <br />- Inflexible regulatory standards fail to allow <br />innovation and tailoring to factual situations. In <br />some instances, rigid regulations adopted to <br />achieve particular goals such as flood loss <br />reduction may prevent innovative multiobjective <br />approaches. For example, stormwater regulations <br />which require concrete channels and below ground <br />systems may reduce flood losses but they also may <br />prevent the use of above ground grassed channels <br />with not only flood conveyance but water quality <br />protection and maintenance potential. <br />- Domestic and international funding sources <br />often favor engineering projects. On the <br />international scene and, to a lesser extent, on <br />the domestic U.S. scene, there is often a <br />continued strong bias toward structural <br />approaches. There are several reasons for this: <br />(1) Funding organizations are often staffed <br />primarily by (in addition to economists and <br />13