October 2010 Article: Design of Experimental Streams for Simulating Headwater Stream Restoration, by Jung-Chen Huang, William J. Mitsch, Andrew D. Ward.
Map of research facility
Stream restoration is a billion dollar industry in the U.S. — and a very controversial topic. JAWRA has published a number of articles on this topic in the past several years, and almost all have generated spirited discussions and replies. One problem is the uniqueness of each restoration project: a park agency restoring a stream, for example, is not inclined to build several different versions just to test the theories. At the Olentangy River Wetland Research Park, Columbus, Ohio, however, researchers are doing exactly that.
This study designs three experimental channels – two-stage, self-design, and straightened channels – on a human-created swale for long-term evaluation of headwater stream evolution after restoration. The swale receives a continuous flow of pumped river water from upstream wetlands. These stream channels, after construction, will be monitored to evaluate physical, chemical, and biological responses to different channels over a decade-long experiment.
This article is the first of what likely will be a series of journal articles over the years describing the progress of the restoration project. It looks at the characteristics of the facility and how the experimental channels are hypothesized to evolve.
[Please note: I have quoted and paraphrased freely from the article, but the interpretation is my own!]