• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.169-176
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• 2011

The purpose of this study is to examine the ecologically suitable restoration characteristics in riparian slopes constructed by continuous fiber soil reinforced system (Geofiber system) which does not contain the concrete materials. The findings are as follows : (1) as the tested soil was not washed away by rainfalls and floods, Geofiber could replace the concrete wall and gravity stone net bag technique from the civil engineering structural point of view; (2) after one year of the construction, it was monitored that land cover ratio was 80-90%, which indirectly shows that vegetation is safely maintained; and (3) at the same time, 5-8 flora species were found in each test grid and more importantly dominant species have been moved from alien species to native herbaceous plants. From the above findings, Geofiber system is recommendable to restore the riparian slopes in terms of stability and natural landscape points. However, a long term monitering is needed considering flora succession process in a given environment as well as suitability tests should be carried out through the comparative investigations in other environments.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.52 no.spc2
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• pp.875-885
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• 2019

The expansion of riparian vegetation in middle size rivers in Korea had been analyzed in this study. Seom River with dam, Cheongmi River without dam, and Naesung River with no operating dam in the upstream was investigated for the 1 km to identify the expansion of riparian vegetation through the aerial photograph analysis. As a results, we found that the rate of vegetation area is 54.7% in Seom River, 77.5% in Cheongmi River, and 49.7% in Naesung River. The vegetation area had been increased in 3 rivers, and the expansion rate since 2010 is very high nearly up to 2 times (17 times in Naesung River). Sandbar and open-water area, however, have been decreased in the same rate with the riparian vegetation expansion. It could be concluded that vegetation increase trend is clear in rivers regardless of location and dam existence. Further researches are necessary to find out the causes to establish the countermeasures because the increase of vegetation will change the physical system as well as biological system of river.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.19-32
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• 2015

In Korea, significant riparian areas have been developed due to river maintenance projects. Introduction of new riparian facilities can negatively affect wildlife in the riparian areas. This study focuses on selecting core conservation areas for Eurasian Otter(Lutra lutra) to support decision making process for development of riparian areas. For the study, first of all, field data of study site were collected by field surveys. Secondly, stream naturalness was assessed to understand physical environments of the study sites. Thirdly, habitat suitability was assessed using occurrence data of Eurasian Otter and environmental data. Lastly, core areas for conservation was selected by comparing and synthesizing stream naturalness map and habitat suitability map. The selected core areas showed several characteristics. The number of artificial facilities is low in the core areas. Rocks which are preferred by Eurasian Otter to eat and excrete are plentiful in the core areas. Also, the ratio of adjacent farmland is high. Based on the analyses, it is expected that this study can contribute to decision making process for environmental spatial plans to better conserve habitats of Eurasian Otter.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.166-180
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• 2015

Pollutant in watersheds comes from two major sources which are NPS (nonpoint source pollution) and PS (point source pollution). Most of the pollutant can be treated by wastewater treatment plants. However, wastewater treatment plants may not be an appropriate practice to improve water quality for the watersheds with large portion of NPS pollutant and NPS pollution from direct runoff and baseflow has different characteristics. Therefore the practices to improve water quality need to be comprehensive for pollutants by both direct runoff and baseflow. Riparian buffer, one of practices to manage pollutant in watershed, has been applied to reduce pollutant not only from direct runoff but also baseflow. In this study, the scenarios for pollutant reduction by wastewater treat plants and the nitrogen reduction by riparian buffer were simulated using SWAT-REMM to suggest an effective plan for pollutant reduction from baseflow. Riparian buffer provided nitrogen reduction of 0.2~75.0% in YbB watershed and 38.0~47.0% in GbA watershed. The result indicates that riparian buffer is effective to reduce the pollutant especially from baseflow, and it suggested as suitable for the a watershed which WWTP discharge is not capable to reduce enough pollutant.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.327-341
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• 2021

The riparian eco-belt is an efficient technique that can reduce non-point pollution sources in the basin and improve ecological connectivity and health. In Korea, a legal system for the construction and management of riparian eco-belts is in operation. However, it is currently excluded that rivers and floodplains in dam reservoir that are advantageous for buffer functions such as control of non-point pollutants and ecological habitats. Accordingly, this study presented and analyzed a plan to select a site for an integrated riparian ecol-belt that comprehensively evaluates the water quality and ecosystem characteristics of each dam floodplain and riparian zone for the Daecheong Dam basin in Geum River watershed. First, the Daecheong Dam basin was divided into 138 sub-basin with GIS, and the riparian zone adjacent to the dam floodplain was analyzed. Sixteen evaluation factors related to the ecosystem and water quality impact that affect the selection of integrated riparian eco-belt were decided, and weights for the importance of each factor were set through AHP analysis. The priority of site suitability was derived by conducting an integrated evaluation by applying weights to sub-basin by floodplains and riparian zone factors. In order to determine whether the sites derived through GIS site analysis are sutiable for actual implementation, five sites were inspected according to three factors: land use, pollution sources, and ecological connectivity. As a result, it was confirmed that all sites were appropriate to apply integrated riparian ecol-belt. It is judged that the riparian eco-belt site analysis technique proposed through this study can be applied as a useful tool when establishing an integrated riparian zone management policy in the future. However, it might be necessary to experiment various evaluation factors and weights for each item according to the characteristics and issues of each dam. Additional research need to be conducted on elaborated conservation and restoration strategies considering the Green-Blue Network aspect, evaluation of ecosystem services, and interconnection between related laws and policy and its improvements.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.58-65
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• 2002

This study synthesizes previous research accomplishments with analysis of problems and counterplan for the riparian forest zone management and ongoing research strategy is suggested. If a part of budgets for water use allotments is supported for forest watershed owner, this policy for the forest owner could encourage the forest management of watershed. Integrated riparian forest management guideline in city and county needs to be established for the implementation of government guidelines. Base on the guideline, working plans of city and county could be evaluated. Public Forest Tending Work for stream water quality and quantity conservation should be enlarged for forest watershed and forest area management in five big river watersheds. Forest watershed should be managed with a connected system for a pollutant reduction strategy in urban and industrial areas.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2012.05a
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• pp.37-37
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• 2012

The study aims to evaluate the complexity of relationships between the riparian states - China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia - in the Mekong River Basin since the mid-1990s with special reference to the discourse on hydropower development. A special emphasis will be put on the influence of China on hydropower development. Although a variety of issues on the river basin have been discussed among the riparian states, none of them has been effectively implemented owing to the lack of China's commitment to the discussions for sustainable water management. Now, a new turning point is observed in the region with emergence of the issue on hydropower development, not only in the upper basin but also in the lower basin. The discourse on hydropower in Mekong has quickly drawn attention of the public, accelerated by the onset of construction of the Xayabury Dam in Laos since November 2010. The influence of China as the upstream country with its political, economic, and military power has increasingly grown in the region over the last few decades, and such trend recently intensifies together with an expansion of Chinese commercial interests in the region. Since the establishment of the Mekong River Commission (MRC) in 1995, the four MRC members have striven to push forward a sustainable use of water resources in the basin. But the legitimacy of the MRC system has been eroded due to the lack of participation by Myanmar and China, and in particular, the Chinese absence has made the four riparian states blind about the change of water regime due to the Chinese dams upstream. Environmental damages due to hydropower development might be possible, including a drop of fish yields, crop production, and damages to the river's ecosystems. Vietnam and Cambodia have already expressed their concerns over the dam construction towards China as well as Laos by pointing out detrimental impacts of the dams to their economies. China's move to collaborate with the other riparian states since 2010 has given a positive signal in terms of sustainable water management in the river. However, this phenomenon never confirms China's proactive contribution to the cooperative activities within the framework of the MRC system. Laos' initiative to build a new dam in the lower basin alarms those who are opposed to dam construction in the fear of its far-reaching damages to the environment. The question goes back to the year-long debate on policy priorities given to economic growth or the environment. The riparian states require wisdom based on a consensus about sustainable water use rather than hydropower development based on individual growth dreams.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.73-92
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is to establish the conservation and restoration areas for sustainable stream management by reflecting the ecological health, cultural characteristics, and the citizens' needs for stream uses. Therefore, we extended spatial ranges of stream evaluation to riparian areas in addition to stream sections. The evaluation indexes are stream naturalness, availability, biota assessment, and riparian characteristics such as land uses and legally protected areas. The grading system was unified with five classes. The spatial evaluation units for stream section are classified as right and left for laterally and 500m for longitudinally. For riparian areas, 30m and 100m of distance from the edge of stream are applied as spatial evaluation units. The six types of stream sections for management are conservation sections(priority/general) and restoration sections(priority/general) for ecological landscape and core and general sections for cultural landscape. The established system for evaluation and designating areas for stream management was applied to Jeonjucheon and Samcheon in Jeonju-si, and the conservation and restoration areas were designated reflecting the characteristics of urban and non-urban areas and left and right of stream sections. The results of this study will provide detailed guidelines for designating stream sections and practical management strategies for sustainable urban stream management.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.25-34
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• 2020

Land use in watersheds has been shown to be a major driving factor in determining the status of the water quality of streams. In this light, scientists have been investigating the roles of riparian vegetation on the relationships between land use in watersheds and the associated stream water quality. Numerous studies reported that riparian vegetation could alleviate the adverse effects caused by land use in watersheds and on stream water quality through various hydrological, biochemical and ecological mechanisms. However, this concept has been criticized as the true effects of riparian vegetation must be assessed by comprehensive models that mimic real environmental settings. This study aimed to estimate a comprehensive structural equation model integrating topography, land use, and characteristics of riparian vegetation. We used water quality data from the Nakdong River system monitored under the National Aquatic Ecosystem Monitoring Program (NAEMP) of the Korean Ministry of Environment (MOE). Also, riparian vegetation data and land use data were extracted from the Land Use/Land Cover map (LULC) produced by the MOE. The number of structural equation models (SEMs) were estimated in Amos of IBM SPSS. Study results revealed that land use was determined by elevation, and developed areas within a watershed significantly increased the concentration of Total Nitrogen (TN) in streams and LDI in riparian vegetation. On the contrary, developed areas significantly reduced LPI and PLAND. At the same time, PLAND and LDI significantly reduced the concentration of TN in streams. Thus, it was clear that developed areas in watersheds had both a direct and an indirect impact on the concentration of TN in streams, and spatial pattern and the amount of vegetation of riparian vegetation could significantly alleviate the negative impacts of developed areas on TN concentration in streams. To enhance stream water quality, reducing developed areas in a watershed is critical for long-term watershed management plans, restoration patterns for riparian vegetation could be immediately implemented since riparian areas were less developed than most other watersheds.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.499-511
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• 2008

The major focus of this study is to evaluate a newly developed stream naturalness index system 'Habitat-riparian Indexing System (HIS).' There have been many studies that have assessed stream naturalness in order to provide information required for restoration. The results of these studies were enough for the purpose of the studies; however, the methodologies were limited especially with respect to rapid measurement and the representation of ecological habitats. Therefore, we derived crucial variables from a popularly utilized method and merged them with other criteria obtained from overseas approaches, resulting in the development of the HIS method. The stability of HIS was evaluated by comparing the results with the Stream Naturalness Index (SNI) of Cho (1997). We monitored 100 stream sites in the Nakdong River system using the two different methods for two sampling periods (spring and autumn), and the results were compared using statistical analyses. The determination coefficients between the index values from two methods were c.a. 0.6 for both seasons, and statistics revealed that HIS had a relatively higher stability, providing index values for stream environments. The results of this work suggest a possibility of the utility of HIS for other stream habitats.