Straughan was recently awarded 1 of 4 grants under the Restoration Research Grant Program! Straughan will conduct a study to quantify how sediment load, biological impairment and riparian disturbance are related to stream restoration construction techniques. The Restoration Research Grant Program is a collaboration between the Chesapeake Bay Trust, Maryland Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, with input from the Maryland Department of the Environment, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other agency and technical partners.
According to the Chesapeake Bay Trust, the program was created to answer key restoration questions to benefit the stream restoration process. It is the hope of the funding partners that answering these questions will ultimately lead to increased confidence in proposed restoration project outcomes, clarification of optimal site conditions most appropriate for particular restoration techniques, information useful to regulatory agencies in project permitting and information that will help guide monitoring programs.