Flows and Recretion: A guide to studies for river professionals

• Date: 10/1/2005
• Author: Doug whittaker, Bo Shelby & John Gangemi
• Title: Flows and Recreation - A guide to studies for river professionals
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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10 I Flows and Recreation:
A Guide for River Professionals
Literature Reviews
Objective
Review and summarize existing
documents with information about
recreation opportunities or the river's
physical characteristics that make it
attractive for recreation.
Typical approach
Literature searches via the web, libraries,
or agency collections, with systematic
documentation of sources and findings.
The effort may include summaries or basic
analysis of agency use information.
Product
Summary of recreation opportunities,
facilities, use, and physical characteristics
in a report.
Responsibilities
Utilities (or their consultants) have
primary responsibility, but agencies and
stakeholders may provide documents or
access to files.
Additional issues
A "brainstorming" session among agencies
and stakeholders may help identify
documents; physical searches of agency
files sometimes produce useful "gray
literature" or use statistics.
Physical characteristics that should be
listed for any segment include: length,
gradient, channel type, access locations,
and facilities.
Extensive analysis of use data is usually
unnecessary at this stage, but a summary
of typical averages and peak levels can
be helpful. Qualitative discussion of
seasonal or weekly use patterns may also
be important.
The summary should be systematic and
comprehensive, organizing information by
recreation opportunities and associating
appropriate physical characteristics or use
data with each.
Cautions & limitations:
Guidebooks are often a good "first source"
for a river's physical characteristics and
general description, but flow ranges
or hydrology information from them
should be used with caution. The level
of accuracy and rigor varies considerably
among guidebooks, and evaluations
represent the opinion of the
author(s) only.
Level l literature reviews include guidebooks,
which provide general information about river
characteristics and types of recreation opportunities.
Boatingguides often discuss flows and gages, and may
recommend flows for different skill levels. However,
guidebooks are essentially the opinion of a single
author, and the "quality" of those opinions varies
depending upon the author's skill, experience, and the
level of detail they provide.
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Level l literature reviews include guidebooks,
which provide general information about river
characteristics and types of recreation opportunities.
Boatingguides often discuss flows and gages, and may
recommend flows for different skill levels. However,
guidebooks are essentially the opinion of a single
author, and the "quality" of those opinions varies
depending upon the author's skill, experience, and the
level of detail they provide.