An innovative riparian planting and restoration decision support tool, funded by the Appalachian Landscape Conservation Cooperative, is now available to the conservation community. This user-friendly tool allows managers and decision-makers to rapidly identify and prioritize areas along the banks of rivers, streams and lakes for restoration, making these ecosystems more resilient to disturbance and future changes in climate. It will also help the conservation community invest limited conservation dollars wisely, helping to deliver sustainable resources.

The tool works by identifying vulnerable stream and riverbanks that lack tree cover and shade in coldwater stream habitats. By locating the best spots to plant trees in riparian zones, resource managers can provide shade that limits the amount of solar radiation heating the water and reduces the impacts from climate change. This well-established management strategy will benefit high-elevation, cold-water aquatic communities.

Managers can tailor the decision support tool to their own specific needs by specifying the amount of canopy cover or the location of the area on the landscape. A web viewer built in combination with the tool also allows users to visualize GIS data layers pertinent to elevation and land cover of the landscape, locations of dams and gas wells, and data pertaining to the presence of cold-water dependent species such as Eastern Brook Trout.

Both the research and tools from this project are being linked directly with ongoing and future stream flow, temperature, and biological response monitoring and modeling efforts within the Department of Interior's Northeast and Southeast Climate Science Centers and neighboring LCCs.

The website provides a link to a detailed video presentation on how to use the tool. (applcc)