River Restoration Shortcourse: Fluvial-Geomorphic & Ecological Tools

This workshop provides training in fluvial geomorphic tools to assess the status of rivers, to identify on-going trends and their causes, and to develop programs of measures to reverse ecological decline and restore fluvial processes that can create habitats and improve water quality. The course emphasizes understanding geomorphic process as a sound basis for planning and designing river restoration projects and programs. It covers general principles and case studies from a wide range of environments, with specific applications and field visits to Mediterranean and mountain environments. The course and course materials are in English, but draw heavily on river restoration and management experiences in France and elsewhere in the EU, complemented by experiences in North America.

This professional training course is designed for managers, landscape architects, planners, ecologists, engineers, and members of other professions with interests in river restoration.

Instructors include Matt Kondolf (UC Berkeley), Hervé Piégay (CNRS Lyon), Jack Schmidt (Utah State University), Walter Binder (Bavarian Interior Ministry, ret.), Frederic Liébault (CEMAGREF Grenoble), Alastair Driver (Environment Agency, UK), Anne-Julia Rollet (l’Universite du Caen Basse-Normandie), Mark Tompkins (Ch2MHill), and Peter Downs (Stillwater Sciences).

Course materials include the reference text Tools in Fluvial Geomorphology (John Wiley & Sons 2003), >40 relevant papers and manuals, and printed lecture notes and field trip guides. Tuition includes course materials, field transportation, lunches, four Provençal dinners, and an introduction to the terroir, vineyards, and land-use history of the region.

Tuition is 1250€, if registered by March 1, 2010.