BRT Insights - WW Kayaking & Hiking: California Rivers and Streams: The Conflict Between Fluvial Process and Land Use (book review)

Monday, January 21, 2008

California Rivers and Streams: The Conflict Between Fluvial Process and Land Use (book review)

Understand our river history and how rivers work to help guide water policy for California's future.

"With its diverse climate and landscape, California contains the greatest variety of rivers found anywhere in the United States. Over the last 150 years these rivers have been dammed, diverted, polluted, lined and leveed to supply the needs of an expanding population and economy. In spite of these changes, rivers and the waters they transport remain one of California's most significant natural hazards and most contested resources."

Part I How Rivers Work

has nine chapters (1 Introduction to the rivers of California, 2 Water in motion, 3 A river at work: sediment entrainment, transport and deposition, 4 The shape of a river, 5 Origins of river discharge, 6 Sediment supply, 7 River network and profile, 8 Climate and the rivers of California, 9 Tectonics and geology of California's rivers). These chapters are a little heavy with technical information aimed at scientists and engineers, but everybody who cares about our rivers should be encouraged to at least skim through these chapters and learn as much as they can.

Part II Learning the Lessons: Land Use and the Rivers of California

has eight chapters (10 Rivers of California: the last 200 years, 11 Mining and the rivers of California, 12 Logging California's watersheds, 13 Food production and the rivers of California, 14 A primer on flood frequency: how much and how often?, 15 The urbanization of California's rivers, 16 The damming of California's rivers, 17 The future: changing climate, changing rivers). These chapters describe the many ways our rivers impact the lives of everyday people. Everybody who lives in California should find lots of interesting information in these chapters.