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River Restoration by Robert C. Ward Director of Colorado Water Resources Research Institute In the June 2005 issue of Colo- rado Water, there was an article (page 14) about the $1 billion spent annually on river restoration in the United States. The article very briefly summarized several higher education efforts to develop a stronger scientific foundation for river restoration efforts. The article also indicated that an up- coming issue of Colorado Water would be devoted to river restora- tion. This is it! To refresh your memory, on April 29, 2005, the National River Res- toration Science Synthesis Project estimated that $1 billion is annual- ly spent on river restoration in the U.S. The Synthesis Project also noted the difficulty in gaining an accurate picture of river restora- tion due to lack of documentation, as well as the difficulty in agreeing on criteria for judging a success- ful river or stream restoration effort, particularly with respect to judging ecological success. As this `industry' continues to grow, CWRRI invited several higher education researchers, who work in river restoration related topics, to share with us their experiences and insights. In particular, we asked the researchers to briefly describe their work and sug- gest new thoughts and ideas about how Colorado can restore its rivers within a broader context of resolving water conflicts (a la the water roundtables created by HB 1177). Hopefully, the discussions contained in this issue will assist water roundtable discussions that move into the realm of river restoration. The first paper, by Ellen Wohl and several colleagues, presents a philosophical overview that traces the recent (2 -3 decades) history of restoration, explains the differences between restora- tion and rehabilitation, and explores the differing intents behind individual restoration projects. John Loomis then addresses the economics of river restoration. John's pa- per comes from his keynote address at the annual Univer- sities Council on Water Re- sources in Portland, Maine, in July. The Colorado State Forest Service, in an article by Ryan Boggs, John Heideman, and Shelly Van Landingham, de- scribes a partnership effort to restore the Purgatoire River through a large scale effort to remove tamarisk. LeRoy Poff describes his research to measure the impacts of dewatering on ecosystem health and discusses how to mitigate some of the im- pacts — key information we need to insure that human water supply needs are met in a manner that places as light as possible `footprint' on Colorado's aquatic environment. Chris Myrick's research is examining ways to enhance fish movement in streams that are impacted by human uses. As Colorado continues to seek ways to meet the water needs of its growing population, the research described in this issue of Colorado Water suggests ways we can also work to protect Colorado's aquatic environment at the same time. ......... _.: .... 3