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Open rivers: Barrier removal planning and the restoration of free-flowing rivers

O'Hanley, J.R. (2011) Open rivers: Barrier removal planning and the restoration of free-flowing rivers. Journal of Environmental Management, 92 (12). pp. 3112-3120. ISSN 0301-4797. (doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2011.07.027) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:28205)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2011.07.027

Abstract

Restoration of unobstructed, free-flowing sections of river can provide considerable environmental and ecological benefits. It removes impediments to aquatic species dispersal and improves flow, sediment and nutrient transport. This, in turn, can serve to improve environmental quality and abundance of native species, not only within the river channel itself, but also within adjacent riparian, floodplain and coastal areas. In support of this effort, a generic optimization model is presented in this paper for prioritizing the removal of problematic structures, which adversely affect aquatic species dispersal and river hydrology. Its purpose is to maximize, subject to a budget, the size of the single largest section of connected river unimpeded by artificial flow and dispersal barriers. The model is designed to improve, in a holistic way, the connectivity and environmental status of a river network. Furthermore, unlike most previous prioritization methods, it is particularly well suited to meet the needs of potamodromous fish species and other resident aquatic organisms, which regularly disperse among different parts of a river network. After presenting an initial mixed integer linear programming formulation of the model, more scalable reformulation and solution techniques are investigated for solving large, realistic-sized instances. Results from a case-study of the Pike River Watershed, located in northeast Wisconsin, USA, demonstrate the computational efficiency of the proposed model as well as highlight some general insights about systematic barrier removal planning.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2011.07.027
Subjects: H Social Sciences
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Economics
Divisions > Kent Business School - Division > Department of Analytics, Operations and Systems
Depositing User: Jesse O'Hanley
Date Deposited: 10 Oct 2011 13:29 UTC
Last Modified: 19 Sep 2023 15:04 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/28205 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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