Australia versus the World: do we face special opportunities and challenges in restoring Australian streams?

Australians do face special opportunities and challenges in attempting to restore or rehabilitate their streams, when compared with Western Europe and North America. Some of these differences arise from the physical and ecological character of our streams, particularly in terms of flow variability, stream power, sediment, vegetation interactions, and nutrient levels. We also have modest resources available per-unit-length of stream, and no massive freshwater fishing industry. These, and many other differences, combine to produce an environment in which it can be slower and more difficult to rehabilitate streams, and we have less confidence in the results. International case studies are tremendously useful but in some cases we need to be circumspect in applying the results directly to Australian streams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]