Traditional landscape design is often based on the subjective judgment of landscape appearance or desired land use with little consideration for proper hydrologic function for balanced conveyance of water and sediment from the land surface. Alternately, traditional design methods might use engineering principles to create structural controls for water and sediment conveyance (Bugosh, 2000). Over the last several decades, fluvial geomorphic research has identified distinct relationships among several important factors including climate, discharge, slope, and earth materials that define stable stream channels (Bloom, 1978) (Dunne and Leopold, 1978) (Williams, 1986). The Carlson Natural Regrade module applies fluvial geomorphic principles to upland landforms through computer software (GeoFluv™). GeoFluv™creates a landscape design that mimics the functions of the natural landscape that would evolve over time under the physical and climatic conditions present at the site to convey the water and sediment from the land surface in a stable hydrologic equilibrium.
The following sections summarize why GeoFluv™ benefits reclamation landform design and description of how computerizing the approach provides a value multiplier by allowing detailed designs to be made and evaluated quickly. The "Problems Addressed by Natural Regrade" section discusses limitations of conventional approaches to disturbed-land reclamation design. "The Fluvial Geomorphic Solution" section discusses how and why Natural Regrade's GeoFluv™ approach solves the problems inherent in the conventional approaches. The "Description of Software" section explains fundamental concepts and terminology used in GeoFluv™ approach, and how and where these are used in the Natural Regrade module.
The remaining sections are as follows. The "Links with other Software" section describes other software that the user can use along with Natural Regrade to achieve even greater efficiency when constructing the GeoFluv™ design (or any other construction project). The "Software Compatibility" section describes the CAD software that Natural Regrade is designed to work with.