Selection of Site-specific Stabilization Techniques
5.2.1.5 Cultural Resources
Cultural resources such as archaeological sites may be protected by the installation of
bank stabilization works, but may also be disturbed by careless construction activities,
particularly if an adequate cultural resources survey was not conducted during the planning
phase.
5.2.2 ENVIRONMENTAL OBJECTIVES
Philosophically, the potential environmental impacts discussed in the previous section
may be viewed as opportunities, and translated into the following general objectives:
Preserve or improve aquatic and terrestrial wildlife habitat.
Avoid disturbance of endangered fish and wildlife during sensitive
periods.
Preserve or improve recreational opportunities.
Preserve natural aesthetics.
Preserve cultural resources.
Completely satisfying all of these objectives for a given project may not be possible.
They may in fact be mutually exclusive in some cases, especially since the work must
foremost be effective as bank protection. Careful planning and expert consideration of the
compromises is therefore necessary. The epigram "complex problems have quick and simple
wrong answers" was applied in Chapter 4 to selection of project components. It applies
equally well to the achievement of environmental objectives, and infers that the advice of
environmental professionals is as essential to an engineer attempting to make environmental
decisions as the advice of river stabilization engineers would be to environmental
professionals attempting to make decisions regarding bank stabilization work. Consideration,
preferably by an interdisciplinary team, of the factors discussed below will allow informed
decisions on environmental considerations as they affect the selection of a stabilization
method for a given project.
This is the appropriate point for discussion of these factors, rather than later under
specific protection techniques, because the environmental features which can be incorporated
into a protection scheme are likely to be a factor in the choice of the preferred methods.
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