Any proposals for changing a fluvial channel should: establish past and present morphology, stability, and responsiveness to change; determine the impact of the proposed change on the sedimentary regime; estimate the effects of change in the sedimentary regime on channel morphology, and on bank pore water pressure, and therefore on bank stability. See P. Downs and K. Gregory (2004). Social and environmental conflicts of interest also arise: damming a river will strip out the finer silt, and increase the downstream concentration of coarser silt, leading to increased erosion, for example. Larsen et al. (2007) Landscape & Urb. Plan. 79, 3–4 demonstrate the need for taking a landscape-level, long-term view of managing a river channel.