There are many factors in watershed rehabilitation that must be considered before any shovel ever meets the ground. Every section of a stream possesses its own unique characteristics and functions, as does the whole watershed. Both views, large and small scale, must be taken into consideration before any true rehabilitation can take place.

1. What is going on in the entire watershed- What sort of watershed is in question, what are the physical, biological, hydrological, and ecological characteristics of this watershed? Soils/geology, wetlands, forested areas, topography, gradient and confinement of streams, how many streams in the watershed and what type they are, and of course the biologic community. Looking at these factors alone is not the entire picture though; the degree of human influence in the entire watershed is an important consideration to any rehabilitation work. Factors such as impervious surface area, areas of increasing urban/suburban growth, the network of roads, rate and percent deforestation, agricultural lands, and the overall percent of forested riparian zones all influence the goal at hand.
   
2. What is the goal of each project- While a salmon habitat rehabilitation project can also serve the needs of birds, amphibians, etc., it is important to define what it is that this particular section of stream is missing; what functions are not presently being carried out but that have historically (or potentially) been part of the area? Is there evidence of a historical wetland that was drained? What function will the wetland be rehabilitated for; water quality, fish habitat, flood control? It is important to be aware of the different functions, benefits as well as the ecology of that community and the watershed as a whole.
   
3. The true "problem" isn’t always right in front of you: another reason to know your watershed- I was once taught that the visible ‘problem’ area is most often not the area that needs the rehabilitating, but that the cause of it can be traced upstream, downstream or high in the watershed above the stream. An eroding bank may be a sign of lack of vegetation, lack of woody debris in the stream, extremes between high and low flows caused by development several miles upriver, livestock too close to the banks, or even hydraulic changes in the watershed such as a paved wetland upstream that used to regulate flows. These factors can mean the difference between spending an inordinate amount of time and money re-creating a wetland when all that was needed was a fence to keep the cattle out of the riparian zone. Knowing the source of the problem is half of rehabilitation.
   
4. Nature knows best how to work- If we gave nature a helping hand by undoing the damage that we have created, then most of rehabilitation projects would be much simpler; nature could simply go on doing what it has for time immemorial. The problem that we run into is that what nature gives us isn’t always what we want. Rivers flood. This is a fact of the natural world and especially here in the Pacific Northwest. The problem is that we live and work in these floodplains, so naturally a flood is detrimental to our lifestyle on the banks of the rivers and by attempting to prevent these floods we almost always magnify their intensity. Any good prescription for rehabilitation also includes a little preventative medicine. It is high time that development on floodplain be severely restricted in order to protect ourselves and the natural environment.
   
5. Nature knows best how to heal- In other words, avoid techno-fixes. Any rehabilitation project that requires humans to maintain it for a prolonged period of time in order to function is not really fixed at all. Barging salmon around dams is not a solution to the problems that dams create, nor is it healthy for the salmon themselves. Look at the way a system works in its natural state and then mimic those natural processes in order to encourage nature to eventually take over. For instance, by placing wood in a wood-starved stream you can begin to see the immediate benefits. But without replanting the area in native vegetation with a future source of large woody debris you are preventing natural rehabilitation from occurring.

Every watershed is different and unique; no two stretches of stream are exactly the same and therefore the prescription to their restoration should not be the same. The more we can learn about our watersheds the better we can help to recover them from the largest rivers to the smallest creeks.