105
© The Author(s) 2018
E. Wohl, Sustaining River Ecosystems and Water Resources, SpringerBriefs in
Environmental Science, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-65124-8_4
Chapter 4
Toward Sustainable Rivers and Water
Resources
The previous chapter reviewed a long list of human activities that have directly and
indirectly altered process and form in river ecosystems, with an associated loss of
ecosystem services. Management in many river basins now focuses on trying to
restore some balance between existing, typically consumptive or homogenizing
uses of river resources versus restoration of diversity, sustainability, and river ecosystem health. None of the latter three terms is easy to define. Diversity refers to
variety but, as discussed in Chap. 2, there are multiple ways to define physical or
biotic diversity and no particular metric is consistently better in all situations or for
all purposes. Sustainability in an ecological context typically refers to the ability of
ecosystems to remain diverse and productive. In a physical context, sustainability
may refer to the ability of a system to continue functioning or providing natural
resources. River health also has multiple potential definitions. Even using the relatively simple definition in Chap. 1, that river health is the degree to which a river
ecosystem matches natural conditions, requires understanding natural conditions.
On the one hand, use and understanding of words matters and people may use similar words but have different objectives or desired outcomes. On the other hand,
diversity, sustainability, and river health are now widely used and there is at least
broad consensus on the meaning of these words. So, what is being done to protect
and restore river corridors? This chapter reviews the development of river restoration during the latter twentieth century and early twenty-first century; discusses
particular concepts used in restoration; and presents specific examples of watershedscale restoration.
4.1 River Restoration
River restoration is a form of river management designed to assist the establishment
of improved hydrologic, geomorphic, and ecological processes in a degraded watershed and to replace lost, damaged, or compromised elements of the natural system
© The Author(s) 2018
E. Wohl, Sustaining River Ecosystems and Water Resources, SpringerBriefs in
Environmental Science, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-65124-8_4
Chapter 4
Toward Sustainable Rivers and Water
Resources
The previous chapter reviewed a long list of human activities that have directly and
indirectly altered process and form in river ecosystems, with an associated loss of
ecosystem services. Management in many river basins now focuses on trying to
restore some balance between existing, typically consumptive or homogenizing
uses of river resources versus restoration of diversity, sustainability, and river ecosystem health. None of the latter three terms is easy to define. Diversity refers to
variety but, as discussed in Chap. 2, there are multiple ways to define physical or
biotic diversity and no particular metric is consistently better in all situations or for
all purposes. Sustainability in an ecological context typically refers to the ability of
ecosystems to remain diverse and productive. In a physical context, sustainability
may refer to the ability of a system to continue functioning or providing natural
resources. River health also has multiple potential definitions. Even using the relatively simple definition in Chap. 1, that river health is the degree to which a river
ecosystem matches natural conditions, requires understanding natural conditions.
On the one hand, use and understanding of words matters and people may use similar words but have different objectives or desired outcomes. On the other hand,
diversity, sustainability, and river health are now widely used and there is at least
broad consensus on the meaning of these words. So, what is being done to protect
and restore river corridors? This chapter reviews the development of river restoration during the latter twentieth century and early twenty-first century; discusses
particular concepts used in restoration; and presents specific examples of watershedscale restoration.
4.1 River Restoration
River restoration is a form of river management designed to assist the establishment
of improved hydrologic, geomorphic, and ecological processes in a degraded watershed and to replace lost, damaged, or compromised elements of the natural system