Virtual Rivers ? Lessons from the Mountain Rivers of the Colorado Front Range

Wohl, Ellen E

ISBN 10: 0300183100 / ISBN 13: 9780300183108

Published by Yale University Press, 2011

About this Item

Seller Inventory # V9780300183108

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Virtual Rivers ? Lessons from the Mountain Rivers of the Colorado Front Range
• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Publication Date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0300183100
• ISBN 13: 9780300183108
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

Sparsely settled mountain areas of the world such as Colorado's Front Range give an impression of wild untouched and unchanging nature. Yet in many cases mountain rivers that appear to be pristine natural systems actually have been impaired as a result of human activities. In this timely and accessible book Ellen Wohl documents two hundred years of land-use patterns on the Front Range and their wide-ranging effects on river ecosystems. If we hope to manage river resources effectively and preserve functioning river ecosystems the author warns we must recognize how beaver trapping placer mining timber harvesting flow regulation road and railroad construction recreation cattle grazing and other human activities have impaired rivers--and continue to do so. The rivers of the Colorado Front Range are representative of mountain rivers throughout the world: land-use patterns affecting their form and function are little-recognized or -understood. This book fills an important gap with a clear and comprehensive explanation of how rivers are changed by human activity and includes a generous selection of striking historical and contemporary photographs maps and diagrams.

About the Author

Ellen E. Wohl is professor of geology at Colorado State University.