This book gives practical advice, based on experience gained in the arid landscapes of the American southwest, on restoration of small floodplains and the encouragement of biodiversity, by inducing meandering in incised channels. The book is by the enthusiastic Bill Zeedyk who, as a young wildlife biologist in the 1960s, began to take an interest in ways of improving degraded streams, and his friend, Van Clothier, who has contributed to explaining the scientific basis of the techniques described.
Recognising that controlling erosion through the construction of check-dams was frequently ineffective and that wetlands had a value in themselves, Zeedyk latched on to the work by David Rosgen on river classification and restoration and, in the 1990s, began to experiment on the use of structures and plantings to induce the sinuosity of incised channels and restore lost floodplains. The concepts, developed by the authors, have been based on Zeedyk's experience, which has been gained from works carried out on more than 150 streams in New Mexico. Many of the ideas and concepts are transferable to other regions of the world, and the authors present a well illustrated, practical and clearly written text for those involved in the restoration and management of the degraded geomorphology of small streams and river systems.
