Care for the genius of the place
From REFORM wiki
There are no simple cookbook recipes for river restoration. The current status of rivers and the potential for restoration depend on the specific local conditions that result from a site’s history as well as its place within the catchment. This “genius of the place” makes every site unique. Careful assessment of unique and generic features requires hydromorphological and ecological analysis and understanding. Simple formulas for the so-called “natural” or “equilibrium” shape of rivers and streams (regime relations, hydraulic geometry relations) are at best helpful for a first crude guess. They do not have any predictive value.