David K. Rowe and his colleagues from the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research of New Zealand have developed a rapid method to score stream reaches. In presenting their method, the go through several of the key steps (and difficulties) in developing such “rapid assessment methods”. We summarize these below:
The team who developed California’s rapid assessment method (CRAM) also made recommendations concerning model development (available here). They offer a more formalized step-by-step process that includes several of the points raised by Rowe and his co-authors.