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<br />An Overview I 9 <br /> <br /> <br />Figure 1.2 One of two check dams that were installed in Sheepshead Spring, near <br />Cottonwood, Arizona, to promote alluvial deposition. (Photograph by Liz Rosan, <br />Sonoran Institute) <br /> <br />tial degradation usually hamper or prevent the establishment of artificially <br />planted vegetation. Other important lessons learned from this evaluation of <br />riparian revegetation projects include the following: <br /> <br />The causes of riparian decline can best be understood by considering the <br />riparian area in the context of its watershed; this requires that reaches <br />upstream and downstream from the degraded riparian area, the tributaries <br />of the drainageway that passes through the degraded riparian area, and the <br />uplands be included in the evaluation process. <br /> <br />In line with the above, strategies for repairing degraded riparian ecosystems <br />need to take a top-down approach that begins by addressing upland prob- <br />lems. Focusing recovery efforts on the bottomlands and neglecting upland <br />problems may not bring about the intended results. Some of the more <br />effective riparian recovery efforts were focused on solving upland prob- <br />lems, allowing the riparian environment to come back naturally. <br />