NSCD Guidelines
The Keystone Stream Team, with the assistance of the Canaan Valley Institute and the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, has developed Guidelines for Natural Stream Channel Design for Pennsylvania Waterways. Funding was provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection through Growing Greener and Section 319 of the federal Clean Water Act administered by the Environmental Protection Agency. This document provides direction on the following topics as they apply to natural stream channel design:
Problem Identification
Working with the Watershed Community
Data Collection and Analysis
Evaluation of Design Options
Creating the Right Design
Permitting Guidance
Selecting a Qualified Consultant
Construction Considerations
Pre- and Post-Construction Monitoring
The NSCD guidelines are an evolving document and the result of collective experience by a wide variety of professionals. Content is based on what members of the Keystone Stream Team have learned, and are learning, about natural stream channel design in the field. The current NSCD guidelines are available for download by individual chapter or as a complete document. All nine chapters are were recently revised under the guidance of the KST Guidelines Revision Workgroup. A new chapter on estimating costs of planning, designing, and constructing NSCD projects is included in the newly-released March 2007 update. Comments on the guidelines and suggestions for revision are always welcome.