]> 2026-04-19T13:30:09+00:00 Case study:River of Life 500 en Earth Trust River of Life project page River of Life Flickr page Environment Agency project page BBC news article BBC news video clip Approved Create breaches in the bank Yes Yes No No Fish,Yes,Yes,No,Yes,No, Fish Yes Environment Agency The Earth Trust Great Britain Yes No Yes true Field 2 (2).JPG Plan view map (Earth Trust).gif Excavation 1.jpg Excavation 2.jpg Excavation 3.jpg River of life construction 1.jpg Sunset rfl.jpg River of Life pre-works (River Restoration Centre) River of Life plan view map (the Earth Trust) Phase 1 works taking place (the Environment Agency) Some backwater restoration complete (the Environment Agency) Construction underway since 2013. Sustainable use of resources is an integral part of the project (the Environment Agency) Sunset across the River of Life site before construction began (the Environment Agency) No 51.634005611069,-1.153117865324 Lizzie Environment Agency Rhymes Create breaches in the bank,,Creation of backwaters, Creation of wet woodland, Creation of wetland, Creation of pond,, ,,Boards-Interpretation areas will be installed to disseminate information and engage and educate local users, Decreased flood risk, Improved public access,, Electrofishing will be repeated post project to assess Water Framework Directive improvement for fish. An ecosystems services assessment will be carried out post-project. This aims to assess if land productivity can be maintained, or even improved post project. Water quality monitoring will be carried out to assess the effects of reedbeds and other measures. A three year programme of pre-project water level monitoring is already complete and has informed the location of different habitat types as part of the overall design phase. Ecological monitoring will continue on from the pre-project baseline, including mapping of protected, rare or locally significant species at the site. There will be a range of opportunities for volunteering during phases two and three of the project, as well as part of the subsequent management of the site to undertake monitoring and maintenance, coordinated by the Earth Trust. Yes No No No ecosystems services assessment,No,Yes,No,No,No, No ecosystems services assessment 12425 The Earth Trust Pre-project bank line at the River of Life project site (River Restoration Centre) Existing bankline.JPG 2013-10-01Z 2456566.5 In progress The Environment Agency and the Earth Trust are collaborating to restore wetland features and threatened wildlife habitats along 2.5 km of the main River Thames in Oxfordshire, upstream of Shillingford. The River of Life project will create a large area of biodiverse habitat, including backwaters and wetland scrapes, across approximately 50 hectares of Earth Trust land, with a vision to create a truly wild river reach. Objectives • To create a new landscape scale area of wetland habitats, including wet woodland, fen, reedbed, ponds and scrapes, backwaters and seasonally wet grassland and meadow. • To address Water Framework Directive failure for fish along this section of the main Thames, by increasing the provision of backwater and sheltered habitat to act as spawning areas for fish and provide refuge areas at times of high flow, thereby improving the ecological status. • To engage people with habitats by providing access routes, opportunities for volunteering and learning. By providing boardwalks, viewing platforms and linking with the Thames footpath to encourage exploration and engagement with water. • To enhance the value of ecosystems services, including the provision of: biodiverse habitat, fish refuge, recreation, flood alleviation, flow regulation, water and soil quality improvement and carbon sequestration. Design and technique The project has been three years in planning, from 2010 when the Earth Trust purchased the site to October 2013 when construction began. Since works began, seven new ponds, two reed beds and five new backwaters have been created at the site. Over 15,000m3 of soil has been removed from the floodplain to land in the upper catchment also owned by the trust, helping to create additional flood storage. In total the finished scheme hopes to create c. 34,600 cubic meters of extra capacity within the one in five years flood zone. The project plans outline four main breaches. All backwaters will be linked to the main Thames, allowing fish to move in and out freely. The project has taken place in three phases; firstly the hard landscaping to excavate backwaters, scrapes and ponds, which is now complete. This phase was led by the Environment Agency. The second phase which will begin in the spring of 2014 will encompass more detailed habitat creation, such as planting of willow, reedbed, wet woodland and grassland restoration. Finally the site will be made ready for general public access by installing information boards, creation of new footpaths linking to the Thames footpath and coordinating events and activities. The last two phases of the project will be led by the Earth Trust. Pre-project site investigations allowed palaeo-channels to be identified and incorporated into the project design. An Eco-hydrologist was appointed at the design stage to assess the best locations for the different habitat types. Monitoring was undertaken for three years to ensure the best way to use water on site to sustain key habitats, without the need for significant intervention through water level management. Monitoring was provided free by Earth Trust volunteers. The new habitat area will link to Wittenham Wood SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) and SAC (Special Conservation Area). Together, this area will now form a continuous expanse of 150ha of diverse wildlife habitat. The site is in a Biodiversity Opportunity Area identified by Thames Valley Environmental Records Centre. It will benefit many BAP (Biodiversity Action Plan) priority species including; seven species of birds, seven species of invertebrate, four herptiles, as well as brown hare, otter, water vole, brown long-eared and soprano pipstrelle bat. Pre-project investigations included ecological monitoring of the site, including mapping of protected, rare or locally significant species. The vision at the heart of the project was to convert species poor grassland in the floodplain to a biodiverse wetland habitat, whilst still maintaining productivity of the site for arable and pastoral farming. During construction, all material generated from excavations was successfully reused on site and no material needed to be bought on site, with the exception of some “type 1” hardcore to form haul roads. Careful management of this material during construction meant that it will be reused to improve access roads. This significantly increased the sustainable credentials of the project, also reducing the carbon footprint. Top and sub-soils were spread on arable fields owned by the Earth Trust, outside the floodplain, and will be ploughed into existing soils. Gravel extracted whilst excavating the deeper features has been used to line fen habitat areas, create a surface for footpaths across the site and provide shallow beach features along the margin with the main Thames. Clay has been used to line ditches which channel water to reedbeds. The project was undertaken in an area of high archaeological interest, therefore requiring pre-construction archaeological investigations. To mitigate for this a buffer was established around areas of greatest archaeological risk. The project only had one short delay due to the excavation of Roman human remains. This was dealt with quickly thanks to the county archaeologist. Monitoring will be undertaken to demonstrate benefits provided by the project, specifically relating to water quality, catchment run-off rates, as well as assessing productivity of farming when working side by side with environmental enhancement. A project specific engagement programme “Water for Life” will ensure positive engagement with interested parties and will be led by the Earth Trust. The River Restoration Centre would like to thank the Environment Agency and the Earth Trust for providing the information, pictures and plans for this case study. River of Life river of life http://www.earthtrust.org.uk/Our-work/waterandwetlands/RiverofLife.aspx No 2500 Thame and South Chilterns Thames Creation of backwaters Creation of wet woodland Creation of wetland Creation of pond Thames Wallingford to Caversham thames wallingford to caversham River of Life river of life Boards-Interpretation areas will be installed to disseminate information and engage and educate local users Decreased flood risk Improved public access 1000 - 10000 km² 231 200 - 500 m Thames Wallingford to Caversham GB106039030331 This project has been jointly funded and delivered by the Environment Agency and the Earth Trust. Fisheries Flood risk management Habitat and biodiversity Social benefits 500 - 1000 k€ Low Large Calcareous GB106039030331 Thames Wallingford to Caversham 2014-02-07T16:38:26Z 2456696.1933565 2017-06-06T12:05:20Z 2457911.0037037 River of Life 500 1 plainlist 5 [[Category:Case study]] [[Project title::!River of Life]] [[Subcatchment title::Thames Wallingford to Caversham]] River of Life# QUERY55f375e7c6f176d594fc9e2a800222ea