For sixty years this stretch of river ran in a straight concrete channel, which is efficient for moving water and useless for everything else. Last winter the channel was broken out and the river was allowed to meander again across a reconnected floodplain.
Within one season, the count of juvenile fish in the restored reach was [survey figure] times the count in the straightened control section downstream. Gravel beds formed where there had been none, which is where the fish spawn.
What restoration actually involves
Not landscaping. Mostly earthmoving, then patience. The design work is deciding where the water is allowed to go when it is high, and then getting out of the way.
The floodplain now holds water in winter and dries in summer, which is the pattern the plants and invertebrates here evolved with. That cycle is the point.