ABSTRACT
The need to ‘know your river’ prior to management (Chapter 7) resulted in a suite of environmental assessment techniques for river channels differentiated by their level of detail and purpose (8.1). The broadest inventories of the morphology and habitat condition of extensive lengths of channel are usually classified to indicate homogeneous river reaches that may require similar management activity (8.2). Analysis of the catchment historical context provides the framework for understanding the cause-and-effect basis of perceived management problems and for deriving appropriate objectives and strategies for management (8.3). Specific management responses should be planned cognisant of the potential for hazard associated with a particular reach; this can be estimated using a series of analyses accordant with the four main components of the channel’s sensitivity to change (8.4). Future improvement in river channel management will depend upon evaluating the success of project implementation over the medium- to long-term perspective (8.5), and by linking the environmental assessment of river channels into the approaches and methods of post-modern river channel management (8.6).
