Riverscapes as natural infrastructure: Meeting challenges of climate adaptation and ecosystem restoration

Rivers have been diminished, simplified, and degraded globally by the concentration of agriculture, transportation, and development in valley bottoms over decades and centuries, substantially limiting their ecological health and value. More recently, climate change is steadily increasing stress on aging traditional, gray infrastructure. Recent trends in river management present an opportunity to address both the ecological degradation and climate stress. A strategic focus on riverscapes as critical natural infrastructure can serve as ecosystem-based adaptation to improve resilience to climate change and restore river ecosystem health. As traditional, gray infrastructure ages and fails under increasing climate stress, there is opportunity to rebuild with improved understanding of the value of the ecosystem services that healthy riverscapes provide. River valley bottoms, including source-water wetlands and riverscape floodplains, are the critical natural infrastructure areas deserving of protection and restoration to build resilience to increased frequency and severity of fires, floods and droughts associated with climate change. Since healthy riverscapes need space and water, the long-standing focus on restoring natural flow regimes makes sense. Equally crucial to restoring river health is to give rivers space and freedom to exercise (i.e., flood and adjust their channels).