克林顿河流域

项目描述

This project will 评估 ecologically and economically sound approaches to managing the Clinton River. 研究人员将利用利益相关者的意见, 各种现有数据源, 以及水文和经济模型来评估原因, consequences and possible solutions for the current flow regime. The project will 评估 the impact of existing and potential river regulation policies on:

• 水的质量
• 鱼类及野生动物栖息地
• 河内及沿河的娱乐机会
• 防洪
• 财产价值和保险费用
• 税收、工资和营业收入
• 湖泊水位控制对邻近湖泊的影响
• 湖泊水位控制对流域的影响

预期成果
The overall goal of this Integrated Assessment is to develop a more comprehensive, 全面的水位管理方法. The project will develop tools and metrics that can be used by policy makers to identify, 评估, 为修订后的流量管理政策建立共识. A more natural flow regime has the potential to create long-term benefits such as improved 水的质量 and environmental health, 增加娱乐机会, 减少用户冲突, 提高区域经济活力, and lower operational costs associated with lake level controls.

参与
The project team will gather input from all concerned stakeholders including landowners, 湖泊所有者和河岸所有者协会, 市政府, 县机构, 流域管理, 允许机构, 商业和娱乐用户. For more information about the project and upcoming public meetings contact greatlakes@femdomcenter.com .
 
有关此计划的更多信息，请访问  http://www.miseagrant.umich.edu/ .

综合评估概述

The goal of an Integrated Assessment project is to synthesize scientific knowledge in order to guide decision-making around a particular environmental issue. These research projects are assessments because they involve a review and analysis of existing information. 而不是进行额外的实验, experts summarize what’s known and go a step beyond the facts and offer an assessment or an evaluation of those facts. 这些研究项目包括:

• Policy-makers, in order to identify scientific information needed to guide decision-making
• Stakeholders, typically community and business leaders with a stake in the issue
• Knowledge from several disciplines, typically physical, biological, and 社会 sciences
• An analysis of the causes of and an analysis of the possible responses to a problem

综合评估将社区领导人聚集在一起, 行业代表, 科学家们, and policy-makers to identify and 评估 policy and/or management options on particularly difficult environmental problems. The kinds of problems/questions best suited to Integrated Assessment are those that have no clear-cut cause and lack an obvious solution. This type of Issue is typically at the center of most environmental sustainability conflicts. 

The focus of the Integrated Assessments approach is data analysis, 合成, 建模, 利益相关者参与(e).g., surveys, focus groups, workshops, panel discussions, and interactive policy analysis). Integrated Assessment can take many forms, but many use the framework below. 取决于决策者的需要, certain objectives may be emphasized within the assessment.

• 定义与策略相关的问题
• 记录环境的现状和趋势, 社会, 以及与此相关的经济状况
• 描述这些趋势的原因和后果
• 确定期望的结果和政策选择
• Provide forecasts of conditions under various policy options
• 为实现每个选项提供技术指导
• Provide an assessment of the level of certainty regarding the previous steps 

更多信息请参见密歇根海洋基金网站

Background

The 80-mile long Clinton River in southeast Michigan has its headwaters in rural and urbanizing areas and then flows through heavily urbanized sections of southern Oakland and Macomb counties before eventually draining into Lake St. 克莱尔. Although 水的质量 in the Clinton River has improved over the last 30 years, 这条河面临着许多环境挑战, 包括水流的极端波动.

Twenty one separate impoundments - or dammed lakes - along the upper reaches of the river interrupt natural flows and block fish movement within the watershed. A majority of the lakes created by the impoundments have a court-authorized water level that is set independently of other lakes in the system and the downstream receiving waters. When lake control structures at the impoundments are adjusted, 结果是突然的, 河水流量急剧减少. Although regulatory agencies are legally required to make these water level adjustments, the resulting abrupt changes in river flow adversely impact 鱼类及野生动物栖息地 as well as recreational opportunities. 另外, the presence of the impoundments puts many constituents on opposite sides of the issues; residents often have contrasting opinions about lake level control depending on where they are located in the watershed.