Successful implementation of environmental flow projects depends on land and water managers having clear objectives and access to reliable data. This guidebook provides information on a variety of methods that can be utilized under different fiscal or temporal constraints to determine and implement appropriate environmental flow targets. Based on evidence from cases focused in the Southwestern United States and Northern Mexico, steps are suggested to help ensure maintenance of flows under uncertain future natural and socioeconomic conditions. The importance of education and engagement to increase acceptance of environmental flows based projects and gain key player and community buy in is described. Limitations on using some data resources and barriers to program success are defined, along with the influence of policies and international agreements on the ability to establish and maintain environmental flows. Techniques are also provided to determine future flow events. Finally, the importance of flexible and adaptive management in project planning is highlighted as an often critical component to longterm improvement of riparian systems in arid regions.
This guidebook was developed through review of the more than 400 articles included in the Desert Landscape Conservation Cooperative (DLCC) Desert Flows Database and interviews conducted with members of federal and state agencies and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) engaged in environmental flows efforts in the DLCC geographic region that encompasses the desert regions of the Southwestern United States and Northern Mexico. Interviewees responded to a list of questions generated from the DLCC Critical Management Question One team knowledgeable of current and future stressors to the ecology and function of riparian systems in the region. The questions cover how in-stream flow targets have been determined and established, and how they can be maintained in light of future climate variability and land use change. Interview material is integrated into section responses alongside references to the literature, as similar strategies and pathways were often identified from both sources.
