The success of river restoration projects regarding its effects on cultural ecosystem services (CES) and contributions to human well-being is not frequently evaluated. Here, we recorded CES and associated values of a restored river site based on social media posts of visitors. We analysed 605 photographs from three social networking sites (Flickr, VKontakte and Instagram) taken at a prominent river restoration site in Israel, at the estuary of the Kishon River. An automated image labelling approach identified seven photo clusters, of which six could be directly related to the restoration site. Of those, three CES clusters were linked to biophysical properties of the environment (instrumental values); two others were linked to human perception of the environment (relational values); one cluster addressed both characteristics, thus showing the mutual relationships of CES-based values. The method was able to reveal previously unrecognised values of river restoration, but also overlooked CES that are known to take place at the site. Our approach can be useful in informing future river restoration projects and freshwater resource management programs, by providing a cost-effective framework for the assessment of their success in supporting or promoting CES and thus helping to render such programs more beneficial for human well-being.

河流修复项目对文化生态系统服务 (CES) 的影响和对人类福祉的贡献的成功很少被评估。在这里，我们根据访客的社交媒体帖子记录了修复后的河流站点的 CES 和相关价值。我们分析了来自三个社交网站（Flickr、VKontakte 和 Instagram）的 605 张照片，这些照片是在以色列著名的河流修复地点基顺河口拍摄的。一种自动图像标记方法确定了七个照片集群，其中六个可能与修复地点直接相关。其中，三个 CES 集群与环境的生物物理特性（仪器值）有关；另外两个与人类对环境的感知（关系价值）有关；一个集群解决了这两个特征，从而显示基于 CES 的价值观的相互关系。该方法能够揭示以前未被认可的河流修复价值，但也忽略了已知在该地点发生的 CES。我们的方法可用于为未来的河流修复项目和淡水资源管理计划提供信息，通过提供具有成本效益的框架来评估它们在支持或促进 CES 方面的成功，从而帮助使此类计划更有益于人类福祉。