Instream Flow Protection is a comprehensive overview of Western water use and the issues that surround it. The authors explain instream flow and its historical, political, and legal context; describe current instream flow laws and policies; and present methods of protecting instream flow. They provide numerous examples to illustrate their discussions, with case studies of major river systems including the Bitterroot, Clark's Fork, Colorado, Columbia, Mimbres, Mono Lake, Platte, Snake, and Wind. Policymakers, land and water managers at local, state, and federal levels, attorneys, students and researchers of water issues, and anyone concerned with instream flow protection will find the book enormously valuable.

This beautifully written and deeply personal collection of essays paints a progressive view of the American West as seen by a geologist. Ellen Wohl traces her twenty years of living and conducting research in the natural landscapes of the West as she investigates the conflict between environmental history and widely held romanticized views of the region. Wohl grew up in Ohio, subscribing to a common perception of the American West as an unchanged frontier. Moving to Arizona, she became enthralled with how the landscapes and ecosystems of the West have undergone change, both through geologic time and during the historical era of European settlement. These essays tell of her early training as a geomorphologist and provide a memorable account of her research in the rivers of the West. As the lessons accrue, Wohl gives us the benefit of her experience and shows how years of studying and living in the Colorado Rockies have enhanced her understanding of landscape change through time. Building on the literary tradition of Joseph Wood Krutch, Terry Tempest Williams, and John McPhee, Wohl provides an up-to-date portrait of the West and brings a new urgency to the call for conservation of the region's land, water, and resources.

"This book fills an important gap with a clear and comprehensive explanation of how rivers are changed by human activity. The book also includes a generous selection of striking historical and contemporary photographs, maps, and diagrams that provide a fresh perspective on the extent to which the rivers of the Colorado Front Range have undergone change during the last two centuries."--BOOK JACKET.

Due to its height, density, and thickness of crown canopy; fluffy forest floor; large root system; and horizontal distribution; forest is the most distinguished type of vegetation on the earth. In the U.S., forests occupy about 30 percent of the total territory. Yet this 30 percent of land area produces about 60 percent of total surface runoff, the major water resource area of the country. Any human activity in forested areas will inevitably disturb forest floors and destroy forest canopies, consequently affecting the quantity, quality, and timing of water resources. Thoroughly updated and expanded, Forest Hydrology: An Introduction to Water and Forests, Third Edition discusses the concepts, principles, and processes of forest and forest activity impacts on the occurrence, distribution, and circulation of water and the aquatic environment. Brings water resources and forest-water relations into a single, comprehensive textbook Focuses on the concepts, processes, and general principles in forest hydrology Covers functions, properties, and science of water; water distribution; forests and precipitation, vaporization, stream flow, and stream sediment Discusses watershed management planning and practical applications of forest hydrology in resource management In a single textbook, Forest Hydrology: An Introduction to Water and Forests, Third Edition comprehensively covers water and water resources issues, forest characteristics relevant to the environment, forest impacts in the hydrological cycle, watershed research, watershed management planning, and hydrologic measurements. With the addition of new chapters, new issues, and appendices, this new edition is a valuable resource for upper-level undergraduates in forest hydrology courses as well as professionals involved in water resources management and decision-making in forested watersheds.

Ecosystem Response Modelling in the Murray-Darling Basin provides an overview of the status of science in support of water management in Australia’s largest and most economically important river catchment, and brings together the leading ecologists working in the rivers and wetlands of the Basin. It introduces the issues in ecosystem response modelling and how this area of science can support environmental watering decisions. The declining ecological condition of the internationally significant wetlands of the Murray-Darling Basin has been a prominent issue in Australia for many years. Several high profile government programs have sought to restore the flow conditions required to sustain healthy wetlands, and this book documents the scientific effort that is underpinning this task. In the Southern Murray-Darling Basin, the River Murray, the Murrumbidgee River and their associated wetlands and floodplains have been the focus of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority’s ‘The Living Murray’ program, and the NSW Rivers Environmental Restoration Program. The book documents research aimed at informing environmental water use in a number of iconic wetlands including those along the Murray – the Barmah-Millewa Forest; the Chowilla Floodplain and Lindsay-Wallpolla Islands; the Coorong and Murray mouth; and the Murrumbidgee – the Lowbidgee Floodplain. Within the Northern Murray-Darling Basin, research conducted in support of the Wetland Recovery Plan and the NSW Rivers Environmental Restoration Program has improved our knowledge of the Gwydir Wetlands and the Macquarie Marshes, and the water regimes required to sustain their ecology.