The Los Angeles River
The Los Angeles River

Author: Blake Gumprecht

Publisher: JHU Press

Published: 2001-04-30

Total Pages: 390

ISBN-13: 9780801866425

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Winner of the J. B. Jackson Prize from the Association of American Geographers Three centuries ago, the Los Angeles River meandered through marshes and forests of willow and sycamore. Trout spawned in its waters and grizzly bears roamed its shores. The bountiful environment the river helped create supported one of the largest concentrations of Indians in North America. Today, the river is made almost entirely of concrete. Chain-link fence and barbed wire line its course. Shopping carts and trash litter its channel. Little water flows in the river most of the year, and nearly all that does is treated sewage and oily street runoff. On much of its course, the river looks more like a deserted freeway than a river. The river's contemporary image belies its former character and its importance to the development of Southern California. Los Angeles would not exist were it not for the river, and the river was crucial to its growth. Recognizing its past and future potential, a potent movement has developed to revitalize its course. The Los Angeles River offers the first comprehensive account of a river that helped give birth to one of the world's great cities, significantly shaped its history, and promises to play a key role in its future.

Ecology, Conservation, and Restoration of Tidal Marshes
Ecology, Conservation, and Restoration of Tidal Marshes

Author: Arnas Palaima

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2012-09-08

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 0520274296

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The San Francisco Bay, the biggest estuary on the west coast of North America, was once surrounded by an almost unbroken chain of tidal wetlands, a fecund sieve of ecosystems connecting the land and the Bay. Today, most of these wetlands have disappeared under the demands of coastal development, and those that remain cling precariously to a drastically altered coastline. This volume is a collaborative effort of nearly 40 scholars in which the wealth of scientific knowledge available on tidal wetlands of the San Francisco Estuary is summarized and integrated. This book addresses issues of taxonomy, geomorphology, toxicology, the impact of climate change, ecosystem services, public policy, and conservation, and it is an essential resource for ecologists, environmental scientists, coastal policymakers, and researchers interested in estuaries and conserving and restoring coastal wetlands around the world.

Reservoir Sedimentation
Reservoir Sedimentation

Author: G.W. Annandale

Publisher: Elsevier

Published: 1987-01-01

Total Pages: 233

ISBN-13: 0080870201

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Research on reservoir sedimentation in recent years has been aimed mainly at water resources projects in developing countries. These countries, especially in Africa, often have to cope with long droughts, flash floods and severe erosion problems. Large reservoir capacities are required to capture water provided by flash floods so as to ensure the supply of water in periods of drought. The problem arising however is that these floods, due to their tremendous stream power, carry enormous volumes of sediment which, due to the size of reservoirs, are virtually deposited in toto in the reservoir basin, leading to fast deterioration of a costly investment. Accurate forecasting of reservoir behaviour is therefore of the utmost importance.This book fills a gap in current literature by providing in one volume comprehensive coverage of techniques required to practically investigate the effects sediment deposition in reservoirs has on the viability of water resources projects. Current techniques for practically estimating sediment yield from catchments, estimating the volume of sediment expected to deposit in reservoirs, predicting sediment distribution and calculating scour downstream of reservoirs are evaluated and presented. The liberal use of diagrams and graphs to explain the various techniques enhances understanding and makes practical application simple. A major feature of the book is the application of stream power theory to explain the process of reservoir sedimentation and to develop four new methods for predicting sediment distribution in reservoirs.The book is primarily directed at practising engineers involved in the planning and design of water resources projects and at post-graduate students interested in this field of study.

Low Impact Development
Low Impact Development

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 2010-07-01

Total Pages: 227

ISBN-13: 9780979970610

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The manual introduces general audiences to designing landscapes for urban stormwater runoff -- a primary source of watershed pollution. The goal is to motivate awareness and implementation of LID in a wide cross-section of stakeholders, from property owners to municipal governments that regulate infrastructure development. The manual provides a holistic framework in which a novice homeowner and an experienced developer can each find an equally tranformative role to enact.