It includes great forests, steep ravines and high-quality stream corridors.
Channel modifications may yield improved habitat for wildlife and plants in a stream corridor, but can result in flooding, excessive erosion or other damage if not carefully planned.
Loss of trees and shrubs along stream corridors means fewer birds and eventually fewer species.
Human encroachment into the stream corridor and manipulation of the stream channel are byproducts of intense residential construction in and around the river's headwaters.
In the new regulations, the commission also gains broad powers to regulate development along the canal's stream corridors - in other words, the land surrounding 18 canal feeder streams.
An example is the value of willow (Salix albaX fragilis) in a Victorian stream corridor for beneficial sediment and phosphorus capture.
Restoring stream processes and revegetation of the stream corridor will provide more useful habitat for these and other species, such as migratory songbirds.
"When you start impacting water quality and separating stream corridors and building into uplands, that's when the problem began for turtles," he said.
DU restores drained wetlands, protects stream corridors and establishes buffer strips that filter nutrients and silt.
During the construction of the course, special efforts were made to preserve stream corridors and existing woods and meadows.