Back then there was one approach to stream restoration that dominated our thinking: locking in a meandering single thread channel bordered by a relatively dry and intermittently flooded floodplain. The response was a mix of skepticism, humor, and nervousness that many perceived as a threat to the status quo. The idea was provocative, controversial, and definitely contrarian for the attendees at the time. ![]() I remember being more nervous about that last slide than any other part of the workshop. How would you facilitate the restoration of our waterways and the Bay if you didn’t have any money? New ideas rarely hit a home run the first time they are shared. This example reminded me of the first time Ecotone suggested the North American beaver might be an effective tool in the restoration toolbox to improve water quality for the Chesapeake Bay. I shared a photo of the beaver as the last slide in a three-hour workshop at the Mid-Atlantic Stream Restoration workshop, held in Baltimore in the fall of 2016. The lead-in to the slide was a question to the cohort of government regulatory folks, stream restoration practitioners, ecologists, and engineers involved in ecological restoration: ![]() The audience wanted hits, not something new. I recently read a blog post by Seth Godin describing Led Zeppelin’s reflection on the audience’s reaction to the first live performance of Stairway to Heaven: “They were all bored to tears waiting to hear something they knew”
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