It Takes A Village
Iowa stream project shows how to do science with the people
Restoring urban streams bruised by decades of abuse is hard enough. Pulling off a restoration project that is backed both by informed, supportive neighbors and good science is even harder. But along College Creek in Ames, Iowa, researchers, government officials and local residents have teamed up to show just how it might be done.
A few years ago, Ames officials began to consider how the city could meet federal rules for handling stormwater runoff that was harming local creeks and rivers. In 2007, the talks led researchers at Iowa State University to launch an unusual demonstration project: Over the next two years, they actively encouraged local residents to get involved in creating a vegetated buffer along one stretch of the suburban waterway – and then carefully monitored how the effort changed both the neighbors’ understanding of stream ecology, and the health of the stream.
“In the past, hindrances to successful urban ecological restoration have included a lack of public understanding of urban ecology and urban restoration needs, as well as insufficient monitoring data,” note the researchers, Cassie J. Herringshaw, Janette R. Thompson, and Timothy W. Stewart. To avoid those potholes, the team invited more than 60 households to participate in more than a dozen meetings on restoring a 267-meter stretch of College Creek that ran through a neighborhood park. At the meetings, the researchers presented water quality data, gave short tutorials on stream ecology and asked residents for their opinions on a range of issues, such as how the buffer’s appearance. They also initiated a series of “hands-on” education and monitoring programs that encouraged stream neighbors to get their hands — and feet – wet. Finally, once the buffer was installed, they monitored both changes in stream ecology and neighborhood opinion of the project.
The project “was successful in producing… desired outcomes,” the research trio reports in Urban Ecosystems. Residents, for instance, learned about the “impacts of urbanization on streams, while researchers learned valuable information” that helped the project “better fit local needs and values.” Feedback from residents, for instance, led planners to make sure that buffer plantings didn’t totally obscure views of the creek. Early monitoring data, meanwhile, suggest that the buffer is improving College Creek’s health — and is “perceived as an asset by neighborhood residents.” In particular, the team says the “hands-on and experiential activities…. engaged residents in the restoration process in a way that encouraged greater participation and direct involvement in restoration outcomes.”
The lesson, the authors say, is that science can go hand-in-hand with education and restoration – if there’s a good, flexible framework for collaboration. Now, they hope that what they learned “can be adapted and transferred for use broadly.” – David Malakoff |October 19, 2010
Source: Herringshaw, C., Thompson, J., & Stewart, T. (2010). Learning about restoration of urban ecosystems: a case study integrating public participation, stormwater management, and ecological research. Urban Ecosystems, 13 (4), 535-562 DOI: 10.1007/s11252-010-0134-7
Image © Kuzma
