Property:Project summary
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Habitat restoration in Ätran was completed in the end of 2010. The restorated stream is situated in Ätran i Svenljung close to Sexdrega. The aim of the project was to prevent bank erosion and improve the unique trout population and in the stream.
Bioengineering with root wads was used to protect the stream banks from erosion. The root wads were placed into a stream curve that was severely eroded. Also trees were planted near the shoreline to make the channel more resistant to floods and strong current.
The restoration effect assessment has been done by sampling and measuring bottomfauna and aquatic plants. The stream shoreline's taxa amount and the diversity of macroinvertebrates has risen after the restoration work. Adding wood debris to the shoreline has given more food, shelter and breeding grounds for the invertebrates. +
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Habitat restoration on a degraded urban river +
Habitat works to reduce phosphate levels +
H
Haltwhistle Burn: ‘a total catchment’ approach is a partnership project which will use CRF funds to improve the whole catchment which has suffered the pressures of quarrying, farming, industry and an increasing population. Although the ‘official’ reasons for failure concern pressures on fish according to the criteria provided by the Water Framework Directive (WFD) this project addresses total waterbody issues deriving from a multitude of pressures, each creating ‘sub-lethal’ but chronic stresses.
Haltwhistle’s ‘Centre of Britain’ identity, together with attraction of Hadrian’s Wall makes it a po-tentially significant tourism centre, with a focus on both heritage and natural features. There are however significant economic difficulties and youth behaviour issues. Haltwhistle Burn is a central focus and has already attracted works of improvement and interpretation by the Haltwhis-tle Partnership.
Since the 2007 floods in the town, Tyne Rivers Trust has nurtured excellent relationships with agencies and extremely enthusiastic individuals directly connected to their catchment. Whilst the project is not a flood defence project this CRF funding now gives us a clear focus for agency action and direct spending on mitigating excess runoff and pollution.
Tyne Rivers Trust have already carried out geomorphological and habitat assessment of the entire burn, concluding that the ‘catchment approach’ would, by combining the small issues, create a significant benefit for the South Tyne and address the WFD ‘poor status’ classification.
Increase awareness of flood issues. <br>
Community engagement with, and responsibility for, the delivery within every strand of this project will be encour-aged. A Tyne Rivers Trust River Watch group has already been set up collating existing local knowledge, carrying out some improvement tasks such as tree planting and to achieve monitoring via fixed point photography, inverte-brate analysis, electro-fishing, and rainfall and flow measurements. The local school has also experiences a ‘Living Rivers’ day with Tyne Rivers Trust exploring their local burn and issues of the wider catchment. They will be further engaged as the project develops.
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Healthy Rivers will install a fish pass ramp on the weir to improve fish migration upstream. Currently the weir poses a barrier to upstream fish migration particularly to smaller fish. The ramp in the centre of the weir will create an attractive flow of water and will reduce the need for migrating fish to leap out of the water to get over the weir. Healthy Rivers will also install eel mats on a wing wall beside the weir to improve access upstream for elvers. +
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Herefordshire Rivers LEADER+ Programme:
A Fisheries Improvement Scheme
The essential features of the project were:
• Engaging with local people and explaining the importance of their rivers, the problems affecting them and the value their rivers bring.
• Restoring and correcting some of the factors that limit Lugg and Arrow fisheries - fish passes and habitat restoration.
• Education - salmon in the classroom. Reared salmon were released by children at various local schools into the Arrow to help restore the run, a
useful introduction to biology. This was in combination with the removal of obstructions to migration. The four schools involved in this aspect of the project were: Kingsland CE School; Kington Primary School; Marden Primary and Pembridge Primary School.
At the outset, we identified a need for fencing on some of the lowland tributaries where excessive stock poaching and grazing was causing a serious siltation problem. Our efforts to tackle this put us in direct conflict with the Lugg Internal Drainage Board, whose prime objective is not principally concerned with the good ecological status of the streams in their domain.
Weirs were originally constructed for many reasons ranging from providing water power and irrigation, via a series of carriers, to flood and erosion prevention. Many are either an intrinsic part of the Herefordshire countryside and still functional and so removal is either too costly or unacceptable. Fortunately, providing fish access does not necessarily require this as there are simpler ways using the natural ability of salmonids to ascend obstacles by fitting fish passes on the weirs or by using existing leats to bypass the weir.
14 fish access schemes have been completed to ease upstream movement. Where EAW is the weir owner, they have led the work and WUF has taken the lead on privately owned structures.
On the Lugg the project has completed fish passes on Yatton Court, Ballsgate and upper Lye weirs and there have been alterations to the blockstone weirs at Crowards, Coxall and Eyton. This takes forward the work done with the fish passes at Leominster and Hampton Court built prior to the project. Salmon now have access to the Welsh headwaters for the first time in at least 30 years.
On the Arrow, fish passes have been installed on Grove Farm weir and bypass channels re-established on Mowley, Hunton and Malhollam. In addition, obstructions have been eased on the Stansbach stream, an important trout spawning stream.
At Folly farm and Glanarrow weirs, structural surveys, planning, listed building and flood risk management consents have been obtained and fish passes "built". However, the high flows of summer 2007 delayed the final "bolting down". These will now be installed in the spring of 2008 at the Foundation's expense.
Access and Economics
As with all schemes to enhance the natural environment, encouraging people to enjoy, appreciate, use but above all share concern for the rivers must be accompanied by raising awareness of the opportunities available balanced against the threats facing the rivers.
The inclusion of sections of the Herefordshire Lugg and Arrow in the Wye and Usk Passport has proved to be a great success. The booklet detailing the scheme now has a circulation of over 10,000 and the availability of Herefordshire's natural resource and the Leader + Project work is a feature of the publication.
The 2006 edition of the passport included 2 Arrow beats which brought in 122 rod days. In 2007 the Passport expanded with the inclusion of 7 more Lugg and Arrow fisheries and in total they generated 278 visits. Surveys in both 2006 and 2007 within the Passport showed that 64% of the rod days were associated with a least 1 nights accommodation within the county. In 2008 a further 4 fisheries joined the scheme and early sales of vouchers in 2008 are showing considerable growth (137% over the first 2 months). It is anticipated that these beats will accommodate in excess of 800 rod days in 2008.
Achievements:
• Community groups/trusts/forums established or assisted
• 9 Environmental / cultural appraisals carried out
• 1 Community environmental / cultural activities established or assisted
• 18 Environmental advice or assistance facilities provided for business
• 3 Information facilities provided
• 11 Sites made available for tourism activity
• 2 community initiatives developed
• 50+ People involved in groups / trusts / forums on activities
• 287 People involved in studies or appraisals
• 44 People undertaking enhancement projects
• 230+ People participating in local cultural and recreational events or festivals
• 14 Environmental enhancements on historic and cultural features completed
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Herefordshire has the benefit of one of the most famous salmon rivers in the UK - the river Wye. It is also one of the UK's best coarse fishing rivers and its Herefordshire tributaries are fine trout and grayling streams. Yet its value to the local economy falls well short of its potential. Salmon stocks are improving following investment in the upper reaches but the infrastructure that ties in visitors to fishing, accommodation and other facilities and opportunities, requires restoration and further development.
Until the mid 1980's the Wye supported 70 direct full time jobs, and 5 times as many in associated businesses. The decrease in salmon stocks that reached its nadir in 2002 led to an exodus of anglers resulting in a decline in the rural economy. No specific thought was given to developing the Wye's coarse or trout fishery. This decline and prevailing attitudes of "wait and see" drove down investment, compounding the problem.
A promising start at developing this important natural resources was made in 2006 through our Defra funded RES project. 43 fishery infrastructure improvements were completed, enabling better access to riverbanks for visiting anglers. However, despite the project being concluded successfully, our efforts were not cast widely enough, nor of sufficient duration to reach sustainability. After a delayed start, our Natural Assets project HARP commenced in August 2011. Funded and supported by Advantage West Midlands, Natural England and the Environment Agency, it has 3 main areas of activity:
1. Restoring, improving and developing angling infrastructure + establishing new opportunities for salmon, trout and coarse fishing.
2. Securing the existing marketing vehicle, the 'Wye and Usk Passport', and significantly expanding it.
3. Helping to resolve increasing angler/canoeist conflict by developing, alongside EAW, alternative sites for canoe access, codes that work (as in Wales) and installing riverside signage at the known trouble spots. In recent years lack of coordination between the fishing and canoeing sectors has led to increasing conflict that can spoil both activities. This is a surmountable problem that can be ameliorated by zoning, education and facilitation for the benefit of all.
Achievements
• 85 fishery infrastructure improvements
• A further 64 infrastructure improvements on 6 new beats
• 2.9 Full Time Equivalent jobs created
• 2 jobs safeguarded within WUF. 10.5 Full Time Equivalent jobs in the fishing guide/accommodation sector safeguarded.
• Assisted 1 graduate gain employment in land based sector via WUF
• Assist 1 non graduate full time and 1 part-time to gain employment in the land base sector via WUF
• Levered in £59,864 of private investment by December 2011
• 4 days support to fishing guides
• Attracted 768 extra fishing visitors (5,464 in total) during the lifetime of the project with many more expected to take advantage of the 23 Herefordshire fisheries that joined the scheme in 2011/12.
• Provided opportunities for 31 young people (14-19 age) to engage with the natural environment making them aware of future employment opportunities
• Engaged 9 businesses in new collaborations
• Levered in further public investment £155,000 by Dec 2011
• Assist with the development of one canoe access/egress point downstream of Hay
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Het Merkske is a river in a southern tip of the Dutch province Noord-Brabant and forms part of the border with Belgium. This area has an important ecological function and is home to large numbers of river animals.
Further improvement of the river's ecological quality has been pursued through Building with Nature measures. Regular maintenance of the river's edges has been suspended so that branches and fallen trees remain in or near the stream, as long as this does not impede the flow too much.
Additonally, dead wood has been introduced at fifteen locations, in various forms: branches, stubs and trunks. +
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High density housing development 350 acres with measures to conserve and enhance biodiversity in green spaces – 40% of site – including along watercourse corridors. Barking riverside redevelopment. +
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High density housing development 350 acres with measures to conserve and enhance biodiversity in green spaces – 40% of site – including along watercourse corridors. Through Barking Riverside Development. +
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Historically the River Wandle was a famous chalkstream trout fishery, with the Carshalton arm even lending its name to fishing techniques like the Carshalton Dodge.
The Carshalton arm (a Water Framework Directive waterbody in its own right) in the headwaters was not only identified as strategically important spawning habitat but had the potential to sustain an isolated population if large downstream weirs could not be removed.
However, the 1 km Carshalton waterbody was significantly degraded being overwide, disconnected and impounded by five weirs, over-shaded, contaminated with road runoff, with little habitat variation and limited fish populations. Hence this waterbody was selected for restoration and re-establishment of a wild trout population.
Project Aim: To establish a population of brown trout in the Carshalton arm of the River Wandle for the first time in over 80 years.
Objective: To rehabilitate the Carshalton waterbody by improving habitat diversity and quality, fish passage, hydromorphology and water quality; with wild trout used as the indicator species for the river’s recovery.
This Scheme was delivered through a phased approach over six years. A breakdown can be found below of the different phases, with specific project details found on the individual case study pages.
Butter Hill Phase 1: Working in partnership with the Environment Agency, 3 weirs were lowered. Habitat enhancement works were undertaken in the channel with the Wild Trout Trust as part of a practical training day in river restoration techniques for volunteers. A Larinier Fish Pass was installed on a 1.8 m weir downstream.
Butter Hill Phase 2: A small weir which provided a barrier to fish passage and impounded the river for 50 m was notched. This improved fish passage by connecting up 2.5 km of river over two waterbodies. Upstream of the weir, the impounded section was replaced with a narrower channel and marginal shelf which enables the river to be more resilient to low flows and provides a small floodplain in a highly urbanised area.
Butter Hill Phase 3: The weir at ButterHill was reduced in height by 1 m and the fish pass modified to increase efficiency. The length of impounded river was reduced by 150 m (15% of total waterbody length) and fish passage opened up for 500 m upstream (50% of the waterbody length). A total of 500 m of river was narrowed and meandered with a low flow channel, berms, riffles, pools and marginal wetlands created along the length. Approximately 300 tonnes of gravel were added to restore geomorphology. Volunteers planted 2000 plants and coppiced trees to enhance light penetration.
Silt & SuDs: To reduce urban diffuse pollution, five innovative measures were installed and trialled to determine their effectiveness for mitigation of urban diffuse pollution, particularly road runoff: Downstream Defenders, Siltex, Smart Sponges, Mycofilters and Rain Gardens.
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Hofstadelva is a small side-river in a larger river system of Stjørdalselva. Due to risk of avalanche and erosion large sections of embarkments are established along both sides of Hofstadelva. Mitigation efforts included shaping of the embarkments to mimic the original stream structure, topsoil and turf transplants are used to improve natural vegetation recovery along the river. +
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Holbina-Dunavat area (S=5630 ha) has been studied from 1994 in order to establish a strategy for ecological restoration by a reintegration of the fish farm basins with the surrounding wetlands by opening the ring dikes around the basins. The positive effects are both ecological (wetland restoration, natural habitat and breeding area for fish and aquatic birds) and socio-economical (development of traditional activities, fishing, livestock and reed harvesting, creation of recreational areas for ecotourism) for the local people.
Works included: Connecting Fishpond Holbina-Dunavat to the Danube regime. +
Holly Brook is a tributary of Tanner’s Brook, a heavily urbanised watercourse which flows through Millbrook and into Southampton Water. Both watercourses are heavily modified in their lower reaches due to urban development
and are subject to fluvial flooding at various locations. The Holly Brook channel has been straightened and culverted in some sections. Flow in the Holly Brook is predominantly uniform glides with a meandering planform and localised riffles and pools – overall it has limited geomorphological diversity. Further downstream it is constrained by urban development. In Southampton Golf Club the channel had been culverted, resulting in poor drainage. The 27 hole golf course is characterised by a highly managed undulating landscape with frequent copses of mature trees throughout the course. Holly Brook is currently culverted through the middle of the course, with the exception of a short stretch through a large woodland copse in the very centre of the course (designated as a Site of Importance for Nature Conservation). To the north of the golf course, the brook flows naturally through a mature woodland copse. To the south, the brook is culverted underneath Southampton Sports Centre. +
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Hoveton Great Broad is situated between the villages of Hoveton and Horning, immediately adjacent to the River Bure in the heart of the Broads. It is designated under the Habitats and Birds Directives and the RAMSCAR Convention on Wetlands of International Importance. The lake has poor plant growth and excessive sediment deposits. This acts as a source of phosphorus which causes algal growth and poor ecology. The quality of the river water has improved over recent years and is now able to support the lake restoration. None of the 21 lakes in the Broadland catchment meet good WFD status. This project will help inform future lake measures in this internationally important wetland. +
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Hovinbekken is one of several streams that were covered and culverted during the urban development of Oslo and the surrounding area in the 19th century. It is now considered a Heavily Modified Water Body (HMWB).
Through Oslo municipality's program, “Byøkologisk program 2011-2026”, plans were made to reopen closed streams and create blue-green corridors throughout the city. This included also the reopening of the stream Hovinbekken and restoration of parts of it back to a more natural state.
Here is a list of the restoration projects in Hovinbekken (completed, in progress or planned). These stretches of river are going to be reopened and/or undergo different types of restoration work:
• Side stream Barkebåtbekken - Finished in 2007
• The award winning Bjerkedalen park - Finished in 2013
• Tegelverkstomta/Tegelverksdammen - Finished in 2015
• Ensjøbyen - In progress
• Jordal - In progress
• Klosterenga park - Planned +
Hulta Dam is situated in South-East of Sweden in River Nolån. Hulta dam was built in the late 1800´s as a sawmill and flour mill. Even though the mill burned down in 1990´s the dam made it impossible for fish to migrate upstreams. In may 2010 the municipality of Bollebygd bought the dam and surrounding land as the aim of restoring it for migrating fish and other aquatic organisms. Court gave permission for restorations in april 2012. Restorations took place in summer 2012 when dam was removed and fishpassage constructed. The project was carried out co-operation with the consultant SWECO Environment AB, municipality of Bollebygd and the County Administrative Board of Västra Götalands and financed with state funds. +
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Design and Application of a Sustainable Soil Management Model for Orchard Crops in the Doñana National Park Area +
Human activities in the Guadiamar river basin have a negative effect on the conservation of this natural setting, the main tributary of the Doñana Natural Area. The olive tree is the main species cultivated. Agrochemicals and suspended matter reach the river through runoff and groundwater flow. The combination of inefficient farming techniques with terrain features contributing to increased erosion.
The main objectives of this project are: Enhance the use of agricultural techniques that respect the environment; improve the sustainability of farms through the efficient use of land and water resources; reduce pollution of surface water and groundwater pollutants from agricultural activities; increase participation in conservation espacion Natura 2000 network.
The project has a total budget of 789.693€ and is financed by LIFE project (394.797 €), Government of Andalusia and ASAJA (Association of Young Farmers of Seville). +
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Improve SSSI chalk river habitat +
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Improve habitat, bank repair work and prevent erosion by installation of coir rolls and marginal woody debris +