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Practical River Restoration Appraisal Guidance for Monitoring Options (PRAGMO)
PRAGMO is a guidance document that aims to assist all practitioners in the process of setting monitoring protocols as part of a river restoration project. Because there is a wide range of organisations, with a range of knowledge and abilities, this guidance seeks to include monitoring strategies suitable for different groups. Steps outlined are intended to support technical staff working for competent authorities, consultancies and academic institutions as well as organisations with limited funds, which may need to demonstrate success to Trustees and funders. As a ‘living’ document, the techniques and methods will be updated over time.
“This is a culmination of many years of hard work by the RRC in pulling together monitoring practices from a wide range of groups. The guidance document will be a significant contribution to promoting best practice in river restoration” (Dr. Judy England, Environmental Monitoring Team Leader, Environment Agency).
Catchment Restoration Fund: Guidance for defining project objectives
Press Release
“PRAGMO will for the first time give us a means of comparing the results and the value for money of different river and wetland restoration projects. That information is priceless in the current economic climate“ (Robert Oates, Executive Director, TRRT). 1.1 How this document can help you 2.1 Why use this guidance? 3.1 What does the literature tell us? 5.1 The importance of understanding your catchment’s
hydrology, water quality and sediment 6.1 Determining project risk 7.1 What will your monitoring tell you? 8.1 Adding time to monitoring objectives 10.1 Existing data resources and monitoring schemes 11.1 Mayes Brook A1.1 WFD Monitoring A3.1 Evidence and knowledge base A5.1 Definition of Common Hydrological Terms A8.1 Fixed point Photography A9.1 Community Involvement (simple invertebrate assessment) A10.1 Electrofishing A11.1 Environment Agency Macrophyte Survey Methodology (LEAFPACS) A12.1 Aerial Photography and Satellite Imagery A13.1 Trash Lines
Purpose
1.2 Who will benefit from the guidance?
1.3 How to use this document
1.4 A living document
Document summary and user guide
2.2 Putting your river restoration project into context
2.3 What is your project aiming to achieve?
2.4 Understanding the links between physical and
biological processes
2.5 Determine your 'Specific and Measurable' objectives
2.6 Appropriate level of monitoring for your project
2.7 Which monitoring techniques to use
2.8 How to use this guidance: a step by step outline from objectives to delivery
The context: evidence, your river and policy
3.2 Understanding your section of river
Project objective setting
Physical and biological process links and limitations
5.2 Inter-relations between biodiversity and physical
habitat
5.3 Interacting components – understanding the
connections
Determining monitoring objectives - project risk and scale
6.2 Identifying project scale
6.3 Defining you project location in the matrix
6.4 Setting SMART monitoring objectives
Selection of appropriate techniques and methodologies
7.2 What level of technique should I use
7.3 Multi-disciplinary methods (see Appendix 8)
7.4 Ecology survey methods (see Appendix 9)
7.5 Fisheries survey methods (see Appendix 10)
7.6 Macrophyte survey methods (see Appendix 11)
7.7 Geomorphology survey methods (see Appendix 12)
7.8 Hydrology survey methods (see Appendix 13)
Monitoring timescales
8.2 Monitoring – for how long?
8.3 Monitoring – which season to collect data?
8.4 Key timescale considerations
Estimating monitoring costs
Above and beyond existing data
10.2 Who should be involved in monitoring and why
Case studies
11.2 River Cole
11.3 River Quaggy
11.4 Seven Hatches
11.5 Kissimmee River Restoration Project, Florida
11.6 Shopham Loop
Bibliography & References
Water Framework Directive
A1.2 Determining which pressure is causing biological failure
Adaptive Management
Literature Review
A3.2 The big picture
A3.3 Objective setting and monitoring design
A3.4 A question of scale
A3.5 How to proceed?
A3.6 River Restoration Design and Appraisal Process
A3.7 Indirect Literature
SMART objectives
Hydrology
A5.2 Available Hydrological data and its uses
Water Quality
Sedimentation
Multidisciplinary Monitoring
A8.2 RRC Rapid Assessment
A8.3 Habitat Mapping (Biotope)
A8.4 Habitat Mapping (RCS)
Ecology Monitoring
A9.2 Unit Area Invertebrate Sampling – Surber or Cylinder Samplers
A9.3 Unit-Time Invertebrate Survey
A9.4 River Habitat Survey (RHS)
A9.5 Urban Habitat Survey
Fisheries Surveys
A10.2 Netting
A10.3 Trapping
A10.4 Hydroacoustics
A10.5 Fish Counters
A10.6 Tagging
Macrophyte Surveys
A11.2 JNCC Standard method for river macrophyte survey and for determining River Community Type (Edited extract from SERCON 2 User’s Guide)
A11.3 Quadrat/NVC methodology
Hydromorphology – Geomorphological Surveys
A12.2 Geo-River Habitat Survey (GeoRHS)
A12.3 Topographic Survey
A12.4 Repeat Cross Sections
A12.5 Geomorphological Mapping
A12.6 Fluvial Audit
A12.7 LiDAR
Hydromorphology – Hydrological Surveys
A13.2 Water Level
A13.3 Spot Gauging
A13.4 Velocity
A13.5 Rainfall-runoff Modelling (to determine mean daily flows)
Data Sources
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