The following Questionnaire will assist you in determining what types of stewardship and recovery strategies relating to desired land and stream uses are the most applicable for your property.
Similar to any other property owner, you probably want to use your land for a variety of uses including exploring nature, relaxing, walking, playing with pets or kids, picnics or get-togethers with family and friends. For areas that are next to streams, there are some additional considerations that should be taken into account. Regardless of how you choose to use your property, streams can be dangerous and unpredictable. Therefore, safety is a top concern when planning how to use your streamside property. You also want to make sure that improvements to your property don’t accidentally cause negative impacts to other areas of your property, or neighbors upstream or downstream of you. For example, you don’t want to install a deck or shade structure only to have it be washed away in a flood and cause damage to someone else’s property. The final concern when planning how to use your property is wildlife and ecosystems. As we have discussed many times in this Handbook, stream corridors are complex networks of ecosystems that include birds, fish, insects, animals and a wide variety of plants. Properly planning people places to minimize any detrimental effects to these systems, as well as minimizing human-wildlife conflicts, will lead to a healthier stream corridor and a better experience for you and your family.
When deciding how to use your property and the improvements you may make, it is important to take all of these considerations into account. The strategy sheets that the Questionnaire on the following page will lead you to are a bit different than many of the other strategy sheets. These sheets will teach you about specific details to consider when planning or designing your people spaces, rather than giving detailed information about what the final product may look like. For example, everyone knows what a patio looks like, but knowing where to place a patio in relation to a stream is not always so simple.
The following Questionnaire will assist you in determining what types of stewardship and recovery strategies relating to desired land and stream uses are the most applicable for your property.
Similar to any other property owner, you probably want to use your land for a variety of uses including exploring nature, relaxing, walking, playing with pets or kids, picnics or get-togethers with family and friends. For areas that are next to streams, there are some additional considerations that should be taken into account. Regardless of how you choose to use your property, streams can be dangerous and unpredictable. Therefore, safety is a top concern when planning how to use your streamside property. You also want to make sure that improvements to your property don’t accidentally cause negative impacts to other areas of your property, or neighbors upstream or downstream of you. For example, you don’t want to install a deck or shade structure only to have it be washed away in a flood and cause damage to someone else’s property. The final concern when planning how to use your property is wildlife and ecosystems. As we have discussed many times in this Handbook, stream corridors are complex networks of ecosystems that include birds, fish, insects, animals and a wide variety of plants. Properly planning people places to minimize any detrimental effects to these systems, as well as minimizing human-wildlife conflicts, will lead to a healthier stream corridor and a better experience for you and your family.
When deciding how to use your property and the improvements you may make, it is important to take all of these considerations into account. The strategy sheets that the Questionnaire on the following page will lead you to are a bit different than many of the other strategy sheets. These sheets will teach you about specific details to consider when planning or designing your people spaces, rather than giving detailed information about what the final product may look like. For example, everyone knows what a patio looks like, but knowing where to place a patio in relation to a stream is not always so simple.