Despite millions of dollars being spent annually to restore degraded river ecosystems, there exist relatively few assessments of the ecological effectiveness of projects. An evidence-based synthesis was conducted to describe river restoration activities in Newfoundland and Labrador. The synthesis identified 170 river restoration projects between 1949 and 2020. A practitioner’s survey was conducted on a subset of 91 projects to evaluate ecological success. When the perceived success of managers was compared to an independent assessment of ecological success, 82% of respondents believe the projects to be completely or somewhat successful whereas only 41% of projects were evaluated as ecologically successful through an independent assessment. Only 11% of practitioners’ evaluations used ecological indicators, yet managers of 66% of projects reported improvements in river ecosystems. This contradiction reveals a lack of the application of evidence to support value-based judgments by practitioners. Despite reporting that monitoring data were used in the assessment it is doubtful that any meaningful ecological assessment was conducted. If we are to improve the science of river restoration, projects must demonstrate evidence of ecological success to qualify as sound restoration. River restoration is a necessary tool to ensure the sustainability of river ecosystems. The assessment conducted in this study suggests that our approach to planning, designing, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating projects needs to improve. An integrated-systems view that gives attention to stakeholders’ values and scientific information concerning the potential consequences of alternative restoration actions on key ecosystem indicators is required.

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尽管每年花费数百万美元来恢复退化的河流生态系统，但对项目生态效益的评估相对较少。进行了基于证据的综合来描述纽芬兰和拉布拉多的河流恢复活动。该综合报告确定了 1949 年至 2020 年间的 170 个河流恢复项目。从业者对 91 个项目的子集进行了调查，以评估生态成功。当将管理者的感知成功与对生态成功的独立评估进行比较时，82%的受访者认为项目完全或部分成功，而只有41%的项目通过独立评估被评估为生态成功。只有11%的从业者评价使用了生态指标，然而，66% 的项目管理者报告河流生态系统有所改善。这种矛盾揭示了实践者缺乏应用证据来支持基于价值的判断。尽管报告称评估中使用了监测数据，但是否进行了任何有意义的生态评估仍值得怀疑。如果我们要提高河流恢复的科学性，项目必须展示生态成功的证据，才能达到良好恢复的标准。河流修复是确保河流生态系统可持续性的必要手段。本研究中进行的评估表明，我们规划、设计、实施、监控和评估项目的方法需要改进。

加拿大纽芬兰和拉布拉多河流恢复的生态成功：经验教训一文首先出现在《生态与社会》上。