Proper Functioning Condition

Benefits produced from these areas are essential, and invoke in us a sense of responsibility to ensure their health and continued ability to provide necessary and desired values. Often they are among the first landscape features to show impact from management activities and reflect overall watershed condition. More and more, people are coming together through recognition of the importance of watershed function for long-term water supplies and maintenance of water quality. Our environmental and economic well-being is dependent on the sustainability of these systems, and as the demands on our natural resources increase, we are compelled to restore and protect them.

Proper Functioning Condition (PFC) is both a state of health and an assessment tool for riparian-wetland areas developed jointly by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service and NRCS. Aqua-Tex has adapted this tool for use in urban aquatic systems and works closely with government colleagues in the U.S. to train practitioners in its use. Aqua-Tex staff form the core of the Canadian PFC cadre and regularly collaborate on stream assessments and training throughout western North America.
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