A thorough and broad-spectrum evaluation of the impacts gravel removal 

 can have in floodplains requires assessment from a number of disciplines. 

 To look at only one element could lead to conclusions and recommendations 

 that might cause major changes to a riverine system on a long-term basis. 

 Therefore, the approach taken in this study included analyses in the follow- 

 ing six d i sc i p I i nes : 



River Hydrology and Hydraulics 



Aquat i c Biol ogy 



Terrestrial Ecology 



Water Qua I i ty 



Aesthet i cs 



Geotechnical Engineering 



This approach not only allowed analysis by individual discipline, but per- 

 mitted consideration of the i nterdi sc i p I i ne trade-offs inherent in evalu- 

 ations of disturbances to natural environments. For example, gravel mining 

 techniques that would avoid effects on aquatic biota could require removal 

 of important floodplain habitat used by terrestrial fauna or be impractical 

 from geotechnical considerations. 



These disciplines were selected for the study because they were be- 

 lieved to cover the various impacts that were known or surmized to be associ- 

 ated with gravel removal. Due to a paucity of background information, it 

 was not possible to be assured that al I significant impacts were addressed 

 by these disciplines. 



Although the main purpose of this gravel removal study was to provide 

 an information base for recommendations to be made by resource managers, 

 another important contribution is to provide a base for subsequent long- 

 term studies. For example, a problem needing extensive study is the effect 

 of removing gravel from many sites in one river system, as occurs along 

 highways and pipelines when they parallel floodplains for routing or geo- 

 technical reasons. This problem is not treated in the present study and, 

 in fact, was consciously avoided when sites were selected. 



