Background
We target sites where restoration took place at least five years before the project starts. Restored reaches are compared with positive and negative control reaches. Positive control reaches are located at stream sites having at least "good ecological status". They belong to the same stream type as the restored reaches following the EU WFD guidelines. Negative control reaches are unrestored sites located ideally along the same streams as the restored reaches. Using positive and negative controls allows for quantifying restoration success as either the deviation of a given restored site from the negative control or its convergence with the positive control. Our approach will enable us to identify the most effective management practice for each biome and allows us to quantify the physical conditions under which management measures are successful