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1 Overview (A]ny nation concerned about the quality of life, now and forever, must be concerned about conservation. It will not be enough to merely halt the damage we've done. Our natural heritage must be recovered and restored.... It's time to renew the environmental ethic in America-and to renew U.S. leadership on environmental issues around the world. Renewal is the way of nature, and it must now become the way of man. Vice President George Bush, 1988 Aquatic ecosystems worldwide are being severely altered or de- stroyed at a rate greater than that at any other time in human history and far faster than they are being restored. Some of these losses occur through intentional exploitation of resources. Other losses oc- cur cumulatively and unobtrusively through lack of knowledge or careless resource management. Maintenance and enhancement of economically valuable aquatic ecosystem functions-especially floodwater storage and conveyance, pollution control, ground water recharge, and fisheries and wildlife support-have all too often been largely ignored in aquatic resource management. Even when management has been directed to these ends, it has often been fragmentary in its emphasis on lakes, rivers and streams, or wetlands in isolation from their regional watershed contexts-despite clear hydrological and eco- logical linkages. Contemporary restoration work is often too narrow in emphasis, focusing in lakes, for example, on correcting nutrient 14