As the vast expanses of natural forests and the great populations of salmonids are harvested to support a rapidly expanding human population, the need to understand streams as ecological systems and to manage them effectively becomes increasingly urgent. The unfortunate legacy of such natural resource exploitation is well documented. For several decades the Pacific coastal ecoregion of North America has served as a natural laboratory for scientific and managerial advancements in stream ecology, and much has been learned about how to better integrate ecological processes and characteristics with a human-dominated environment. These in­ sightful but hard-learned ecological and social lessons are the subject of this book. Integrating land and rivers as interactive components of ecosystems and watersheds has provided the ecological sciences with impor­ tant theoretical foundations. Even though scientific disciplines have begun to integrate land-based processes with streams and rivers, the institutions and processes charged with managing these systems have not done so successfully. As a result, many of the watersheds of the Pacific coastal ecoregion no longer support natural settings for environmental processes or the valuable natural resources those processes create. An important role for scientists, educators, and decision makers is to make the integration between ecology and con­ sumptive uses more widely understood, as well as useful for effective management.

(Sections) River Ecology and Management in the Pacific Coastal Ecoregion * The Physical Environment * The Biotic Environment * Ecosystem Processes * Management * The Future (Chapters) River Ecology and Management in the Pacific Coastal Ecoregion * Channel Processes, Classification, and Response * Hydrology * Stream Quality * Biotic Stream Classification * Microorganisms and Organic Matter Decomposition * Primary Production * Stream Macroinvertebrate Communities * Fish Communities * Riparian Wildlife * Dynamic Landscape Systems * Riparian Forests * Function and Distribution of Large Woody Debris * Nutrient Cycles and Responses to Disturbance * Organic Matter and Trophic Dynamics * The Hyporheic Zone * Biodiversity * Statistical Design and Analysis Considerations for Monitoring and Assessment * Cumulative Watershed Effects and Watershed Analysis * Rivers as Sentinels * Social Organizations and Institutions * River Law * Economic Perspectives * Stream and Watershed Restoration * Nonprofit Organizations and Watershed Management * Watershed Management * Paradigms, Policies, and Prognostications about the Management of Watershed Ecosystems