Process based restoration (PBR) has been a term used for at least the past 30 years in the restoration science literature. It is perhaps most eloquently wrapped up in phrases like Bill Zeedyk’s ‘let the water do the work’ or our adaptation of ‘let the rodent do the work’ referring to beaver-assisted PBR (see last Chapter of Goldfarb's Eager). In essence, instead of tackling restoration with expensive, reconstructive surgery done with heavy equipment and grading to make the channel look like we want it to, we try to encourage and allow the river to shape itself through improving its diet and exercise. PBR-LT is process based restoration – low tech. We think of our treatments as meals to the river (typically providing more structure like wood and beaver dams) and designed to kick off the process of recovery. Ultimately, we don’t want to be in the business of feeding meals to systems and want to encourage the processes that allow a system to feed itself.
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- Wheaton J.M., Bennett S.N., Bouwes, N., Maestas J.D. and Shahverdian S.M. (Editors). 2019. Low-Tech Process-Based Restoration of Riverscapes: Design Manual. Version 1.0. Utah State University Restoration Consortium. Logan, UT. 286 pp. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.19590.63049/2.