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If you're on my riverfront property cutting my trees...
Obviously best practice is not to find yourself on anyone's land cutting trees! That seems like a whole different question. Limit the clearing to what's in the river channel, and only clear what's needed to get your canoe through.
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you are definitely doing something "etc". By interfering with nature...
This gets pretty slippery-slope subjective depending on the type of obstructions and clearing that is being assumed. Depending on the stream, some of the obstruction may be unnatural, related to land-use practices of riverfront properties (e.g. dumping brush, clearing trees, fencing or other furnishings/structures, etc.), and even natural disturbance/obstruction can become unhealthy for a watercourse, or prevent it's use & enjoyment, which is also an important value.
In my mind, clearing what's necessary to get a canoe through is likely a far cry from impacting ecosystem functions like wetlands, biodiversity, erosion, pollution control, etc., but I guess that depends on the streams and scenarios we each imagine in our own minds. If it's an accessible public river and clearing mid-stream strainers can be done with a light touch, I personally think the benefits of keeping it navigable & enjoyed are worthwhile & legit, and should have no significant impacts on ecosystem health or adjacent landowners.
Go around what you can. Clear as little needed. Be respectful. Enjoy.
Legalities would be nice to know, but is unfortunately difficult, so bottom line, the 2 questions that need to be asked if you want to access a river like described are: 1. "Am I doing too much to change the river?" and 2. "Am I bugging anyone?".
WWGOD?, sounds very lucky to find 10 km of nice, quiet stream close to home for personal get-aways! May you enjoy it often. Let us know how it goes.
P.