Major research and monitoring needs for urban streams and watersheds

Abstract

Successful rehabilitation of salmonid habitat and populations in urban streams requires fundamental understanding of what works and thus requires an adaptive management approach that is based on continuing to fill our major knowledge gaps. Major research and monitoring needs for urban streams and watersheds are similar to those in other land uses (Wenger et al. 2009). This chapter provides a review of those needs including rigorous assessments of the ecological condition of urban waters, assessing urban stormwater mitigation and groundwater contamination, determining the extent of fish passage barriers in urban areas, evaluating chronic toxicities of salmonids and other aquatic biota to commonly occurring urban chemical mixtures, conducting futures analyses that include both human settlement and climate change scenarios, evaluating the effectiveness of urban watershed and stream rehabilitation projects, establishing the effectiveness of urban environmental regulation and ecosystem mitigation efforts, implementing intergovernmental and interdisciplinary research and monitoring of urban aquatic systems, and improving the general understanding of how to effectively educate urban and exurban citizens regarding urban ecosystems.