The attempt “straightening” rivers

Hello, everyone,

Detailed study over the past two or three decades is showing that the complex forms of natural systems are essential to their functioning. The attempt to straighten rivers and give them regular cross-sections is perhaps the most disastrous example of this form-and-function relationship. The natural river has a very irregular form: it curves a lot, spills across floodplains, and leaks into wetlands, giving it an ever-changing and incredibly complex shoreline.

* source; p.34

https://books.google.co.kr/books?id=IDRKDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA34&dq=%22detailed+study+over+the+past+two+or+three+decades+is+showing%22&hl=ko&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiNzYbcm9HxAhUXwosBHZBTCA0Q6AEwAHoECAMQAg#v=onepage&q=%22detailed%20study%20over%20the%20past%20two%20or%20three%20decades%20is%20showing%22&f=false

My question is if we are allowed to replace above underlined part - ‘the attempt to straighten’ with ‘the attempt straightening’ or not.

Since the inner construction of ‘the attempt to straighten’ is ‘the attempt (for them) in order to straighten‘, I assume ‘the attempt’ itself as the subject can’t ‘straighten rivers’ directly and so we’re not allowed to replace as above.“ Though I found following sentence, ”... Rep. Hall spoke at length about the attempt being made under Medicare ...” (=the attempt which is being made under Medicare) in the Corpus of contemporary American English, I think this case is a bit different with my original sentence.

Will appreciate, if you kindly correct my assumption, if anything wrong.