Performance evaluation of river restoration

Extensive aquatic system restoration projects have been undertaken in the Western United States during the past two decades. Forensic studies have revealed that many early restoration projects have not performed according to the original design expectations. Recent peer review and policy groups such as the Independent Scientific Review Panel in the Columbia Basin have posed several challenging but essential questions of restoration programs. These questions include quantifying the ecological benefit of the restoration activity in the short and long-term at the local scale and what additional benefits will result at the watershed scale? This paper describes a methodology being tested on the Red River restoration project in central Idaho, USA. The Red River Wildlife Management Area is a 7.0 km reach of a tributary to the Clearwater River in the Columbia Basin. As early as the turn of the century, reaches of the Red River were channeled through mining and agricultural activities. This has resulted in channel incision resulting in accelerated bank erosion, increased width-depth ratios at low flows, elevated water temperatures that create thermal barriers for fish migration, and a general draining of a wet meadow environment. The site has significantly degraded aquatic and riparian habitat as a result of these changes.