River recovery occurs naturally as rivers adjust to disturbance. While many studies of river character and behaviour have documented pathways of degradation (i.e. river metamorphosis), few studies have assessed the character, capacity and stages of river recovery. In this paper, a generic procedure to analyse river recovery is developed and applied in Bega catchment, on the south coast of New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Historical data and field analyses are used to identify stages of river evolution throughout Bega catchment. From this, stages of river condition and pathways of adjustment are assessed for three river styles at different positions within the catchment. The approach, which is based on a geomorphic unit frame, and invokes principles of ergodic reasoning, directly links river forms and processes at various stages of recovery. To differentiate among the various recovery pathways for each reach of a river, and assess the potential of that reach to recover, two basic requirements must be met:

• Detailed and fully documented evolutionary frameworks of river change
  
• Appreciation and understanding of geomorphic linkages within a catchment, and associated limiting factors which may inhibit recovery potential.

One degradation, and two recovery pathways have been identified. Reaches falling along the first recovery pathway are adjusting back towards a restored condition, and those falling along the second are adjusting towards a new (or creation) condition. The former is possible where rivers have proven remarkably resilient to change. The latter occurs in catchments in which the boundary conditions (i.e. water and sediment transfer and riparian vegetation and CWD loadings) have been fundamentally changed and hence river character and behaviour has been irreversibly altered.

While it is recognised that rivers adjust along an evolutionary continuum, whereby reaches of the same river style display different conditions, in simplistic terms, snapshots along the evolutionary sequence are used to describe different stages along the degradation and recovery pathways. To simplify the analysis, five stages of river condition have been identified: intact, degraded, turning point, restoration and creation. Intact reaches operate in a self-adjusting manner, whereby processes maintain the pre-disturbance geomorphic character of the reach. The processes occurring in restoration reaches maintain and enhance the geomorphic structure of the reach. These reaches are moderately resilient to change. Turning point reaches can recover or revert to a degraded state. Degraded reaches are often still adjusting to disturbance and the processes of recovery have not yet begun and a creation reach has a self-adjusting character and behaviour but operates under altered catchment boundary conditions (in terms of water and sediment transfer). Once identified, each reach is placed on pathways of degradation and recovery, and predictions made about their direction of change.

The approach provides a solid basis to identify appropriate target conditions for river rehabilitation based on the natural variability in river structure and flow, and the natural character of rivers in equivalent landscape settings. In addition, it provides a geomorphic platform to assess the ecological recovery potential within a entire system.