Integrated Riverscape Management

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The prescription to protect Riparian Buffering Functions are often contested. Aquatic habitat is critical for valued species like Salmon which are central to claims by Tribal Governments over Treaty Rights at Risk. Riparian management is central to state and federal law, particularly the Shoreline Management Act, Critical Areas Regulation, and Forest Practices Act for the state, and Endangered Species Act and Clean Water Act of the federal side. The Planning and Funding Systems which provides the resources to support the owner or manager of a particular buffer may support narrow activities or only support specific purposes. This complexity has resulted in overlapping layers of requirements and regulations and incentives that are difficult to analyze as a whole system. Integrated riparian buffer management is an attempt to organize the desired functions, regulations, measurements, funding, and opportunities in riverine landscapes, for the purpose of restoring and protecting ecosystem functions, goods and services.

Applicable Efforts

The following efforts either support or may be supported by integrated buffer thinking:

• Integrated Floodplain Management efforts may contain the largest riparian landscapes, as floodplains by definition contain large interconnected riparian landscapes, and are highly regulated.
• Sno-Stilly Riparian Zone Management Strategy was an attempt to use GIS-based hydraulic modeling to better describe surface water flow pathways and features that could be used at a parcel or catchment scale to design buffer functions.

Applicable Documents

The following documents provide key information to inform an integrated approach to buffer management.