Table 7 Guiding principles for proactive and precautionary catchment plans that heed lessons learnt from the Truths of the Riverscape

Co-craft a visionary but realistically achievable vision

River management is a collective responsibility—an ongoing commitment, not a project. Healthy rivers are products of healthy societies. Unless those who live and work along the river want to look after it, management interventions are unlikely to be successful and sustainable

Be bold, preparing well for the future: Failure to plan is planning to fail. Without a proactive plan, management is inherently reactive, failing to hold steady at times of perceived crisis

Act and learn together, sharing perspectives and experiences along the way. Unless assessment tools and frameworks are co-developed with practitioners who use them, they are likely to be ignored or mis-applied. If struggling to translate, it’s too late!

A coherent package of actions has a clear purpose and rationale, striving to achieve the best possible state (character and behaviour), and avoids measures or practices that work against each other

Work with the river as it is, determining what is manageable, where, how, and with what priority. Goals must be realistically achievable under prevailing conditions, recognising that in many instances the river is the best that it can be. Many legacy effects and path dependencies are difficult, if not impossible, to revoke

Incorporate future variability into management plans, recognising uncertain outcomes of potential adjustments through flexible, open-ended and dynamic goals (moving targets)

Hold steady at times of perceived crisis. Avoid ill-conceived, reactive measures that have limited prospects for success, often with negative long-term consequences

Carefully consider treatment response, working with recovery in a conservation-first approach to management

Develop and apply a rational approach to prioritisation with an accompanying evidence base

Protect and/or enhance key values/attributes, remembering that prevention is more effective, and cheaper, than cure

Carefully diagnose problems, avoiding piecemeal solutions and blanket applications. Tailored, process-based treatments tackle issues at source, at the scale of the problem (right place, right time). Inappropriate measures in the wrong place won’t fix the problem (e.g., bed before banks)

Appraise thresholds of possible/probable concern, identifying what can be done to mitigate system deterioration or collapse. Strategically address threatening processes before they become more costly (a stitch in time), identifying risks/threats and tipping points and assessing how to manage them

Work with recovery to facilitate cost-effective management, avoiding wasteful expenditure (opportunity costs). Targeted interventions get the best ‘bang for the buck’ (return on investment). Sometimes small expenditure/efforts can make a big difference. Targeted interventions at carefully selected locations can have positive trickle-down consequences, as catalytic actions facilitate system-wide recovery (e.g., headcut management)

Get the sequence of actions ‘right’, avoiding and/or minimising negative off-site impacts (i.e., don’t transfer problems elsewhere). In tackling one problem, don’t create others. Don’t fight the site—appropriately frame reach-scale applications in their catchment context, rebuilding lost linkages (connectivities) to support ecosystem functionality at the catchment scale

Recognise that repair may not be possible in ‘sacrificial’ reaches with low recovery potential

Know when to opt-in and when to opt-out. Whenever possible, apply passive management measures that work with the river and allow it to self-heal. Leave the river alone as far as practicable, allowing it to do the work—to look after itself. Passive restoration is a conscious choice to apply minimal intervention measures or the do-nothing option. Move the pump shed, not the river

Apply adaptive management principles

Be proactive, not reactive. Be ready when called upon

Learn effectively. Failing to learn from past experiences is a good way to keep making the same mistakes, unnecessarily repeating disasters and compromising riverine values

Effective monitoring programmes generate reliable and relevant signals about the condition and health of the river

Recurrently reappraise management objectives and approaches in light of experience and lessons learnt (successes and failures). Learn from experience, documenting, evaluating and reporting effectively

Make effective use of best available information. Ask the right questions—don’t let technology drive the questions. Question persistently. If something doesn’t make sense, don’t do it

Develop and apply a carefully scaffolded information base (a living database), using clear language to establish common ground to inform integrative practices, identifying gaps and avoiding practices that re-invent the wheel

Experiment effectively. Learn from examples of good practice and promote them. Document failures so others can learn from them

Use process-based understandings (archetypal histories) to transfer and upscale understandings and applications to achieve big-picture (collective and cumulative) impacts

Respect and restore uncertainty, recognising that the future will be different in ways that we do not and cannot necessarily know. Expect the unexpected—surprises are inevitable … it all depends