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Trends in the use of large wood in UK river restoration projects: insights from the National River Restoration Inventory
Author(s) -
Cashman Matthew Joseph,
Wharton Geraldene,
Harvey Gemma L.,
Naura Marc,
Bryden Alexandra
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
water and environment journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.437
H-Index - 37
eISSN - 1747-6593
pISSN - 1747-6585
DOI - 10.1111/wej.12407
Subject(s) - restoration ecology , habitat , environmental resource management , fish <actinopterygii> , geography , environmental science , environmental planning , ecology , fishery , biology
Large Wood (LW) is increasingly employed in river restoration to promote physical habitat heterogeneity and ecological diversity. To explore how LW has been used in restoration schemes across the United Kingdom in recent decades, we analysed data on 912 LW projects archived in the UK’s National River Restoration Inventory (NRRI). The number of LW schemes has continued to increase following the earliest records in the 1990s, largely tracking overall trends in river restorations. LW projects have been predominantly located in lowland, rural streams, although there has been a notable cluster in and around London. LW projects have mainly revolved around the desire to deliver hydromorphological improvements and specifically the creation of fish habitat. Most schemes used LW in simple deflector forms despite the growing scientific evidence of the benefits of using structurally complex LW. Post project monitoring has been limited and mostly restricted to photographic records. This type of database analysis can provide important insights and help guide future restoration practice.