Trees, large wood and streams: Using archive survey data to inform changing interactions in a human?impacted landscape

Monitoring is the key to understanding fluvial systems and a crucial foundation for assessing outcomes of river restoration. The New Forest, southern England, was designated National Park in 2005 recognition its highly valued landscape, which has been both positively negatively impacted by over 1000 years human management. Here we analyse archive field maps tabulations extracted from walkover surveys that record distribution character wood jams along ~59 km Forest streams 1991. By integrating 1991 survey data with other historical information, associations among stream channel characteristics, jams, riparian land cover, management at time. We reveal these factors reflect imprint centuries grazing, forestry practices. Along ~10 one (the Highland Water), collected during additional 1997 2021, track changes since illustrate how reduction recent decades restoration some reaches resulted overall increases sinuosity number jams. on our results are based provide an approach characterizing impacts corridor landscape cost time effective could be applied non-specialist volunteers (‘citizen scientists’) following appropriate training. Survey spatial coverage achieved rare but need encouraged farther afield robust framework into more local, specialist can integrated, broad approaches monitored.