Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
These and other constraints mean that re-establishing conditions that might have existed
prior to human settlement of the landscape is virtually impossible. It is more appropriate
to restore rivers that are self-sustaining and integrated into the surrounding landscape and
are, therefore, generally closer to a more natural state. Hence, for example, the Plan Loire
Grandeur Nature for the Loire River in France, one of the largest river restoration pro-
grammes undertaken anywhere, aims to ensure the conservation of typical Loire Valley
ecosystems (including peatlands, gorges, alluvial forests, and oxbow lakes) on model sites
and to maintain their ecological functions. Part and parcel of this effort is the re-establish-
ment of iconic river species such as the beaver and salmon.
Even when the objectives of river restoration programmes are clear, in most cases they will
still have to be balanced against other demands put on rivers. Some of these demands may
be conflicting. For example, some conservationists argue that river regulation and envir-
onmental conservation are intrinsically incompatible since regulation modifies the natural
environment in which original wildlife communities became established. Indeed, in certain
cases, the ecological requirements of organisms are destroyed or modified beyond the lim-
its of adaptations and the organisms are unable to survive. River management is no differ-
ent from any other natural environmental management issue in that it involves comprom-
ises, and in a world where the growth of populations and economies appears to be inex-
orable, not to mention the all-embracing effects of human-induced climate change, these
compromises are likely to become more and more delicate.
