Reframing and operationalizing holistic, geomorphologically informed river management in British Columbia, Canada

As watershed geomorphology acts as a physical template upon which a range of biotic and abiotic processes operate, a thorough geomorphic understanding of watersheds provides a key foundation of knowledge upon which a full range of environmental management decisions can be developed. While British Columbia (BC) is home to a long history of study and notable advances in the science of geomorphology and related fields, this knowledge has not been incorporated into environmental management or planning approaches to its full potential. We argue that a geomorphologically informed approach to river management needs to be developed and adopted to provide a foundation for holistic, coherent, integrative, proactive, sustainable, and cost-effective solutions to a range of management challenges. The perspectives presented in this paper originate from a 3-day River Styles Framework training workshop that was attended by Indigenous and non-Indigenous experts in geomorphology, ecology, hydrology, and restoration in September 2024 in Campbell River, Vancouver Island (the traditional territory of the Liǧ w iłdax̌ w people). The motivation of this work is to give a voice to the concerns of industry practitioners, allowing them to express their views on the good things that are happening in-practice, the impediments to advancing practice, and their thoughts on what needs to happen to move forward. We end by outlining how the River Styles Framework, a widely adopted approach to geomorphic characterization and interpretation of riverscapes, could be used to operationalize a geomorphologically informed approach to river management by organizing, building out, and synthesizing watershed knowledges and programs in BC.