Threat-based Management for creeks, streams and rivers a manager’s guide for understanding and managing flowing waters in sagebrush

View guide.

This tool is designed to rapidly assess and manage perennial and intermittent lotic (flowing) water systems. Lentic, or still-water, systems, such as wet meadows, swales, seeps and marshes, are inherently different.

This guide is not an instruction manual but a decision-support tool for understanding how riparian areas such as creeks, rivers and streams should function. This guide helps managers determine whether a riparian area is functioning properly and how to restore or maintain proper function. A wide variety of natural resource professionals or land managers will find this guide helpful because it provides a framework for land managers to identify, discuss and address threats to riparian resources.

The goals of this tool are:

• Facilitate communication about riparian conditions across a broad audience of stakeholders.
• Provide an assessment that easily integrates with existing protocols and programs.
• Help users identify factors impacting stream resilience.
• Help users assess and prioritize areas that may require more detailed investigation.