Trent Rivers Trust - Autumn 2008
“A Catchment Approach to River Restoration”

The Association of Rivers Trusts and Trent Rivers Trust where pleased to invite everyone to the 2008 Autumn Seminar and Awards Dinner at the Agricultural Business Centre in Bakewell, and it was a return to the roots of the Rivers Trust Movement. Taking a catchment approach to river restoration and conservation requires working in both rural and urban areas.  Many Rivers Trusts have built a reputation for novel approaches to river restoration in rural areas. The Seminar explored some of those approaches and provided an opportunity for Trusts to learn from them and contribute new ideas.

The Trent Rivers Trust ran a half day field visit on the Wednesday morning.

Pembrokshire Rivers Trust - Autumn 2005
“Community Partnerships”

The Autumn Seminar was held in support of Pembrokeshire Rivers Trust at Wolfs Castle, near Haverfordwest.  Pembrokeshire Rivers Trust is part funded by the EU Interreg III A programme under the Celtic Rivers Project to develop working in partnership with the Slaney River Trust in South East Ireland.  The project capitalizes on complementary skills and experience in both areas.  Learning from one another and sharing skills and knowledge, it is designed to achieve community-development benefits that would otherwise be unaffordable and unattainable. Its targets - environmental, social and economic - are inseparable.

The seminar brought together public and other funding opportunities to develop community led initiatives, and to show how public participation linked to integrated river catchment management is working, not only in Pembrokeshire and the Slaney but across other areas where rivers trusts operate.  It also covered the wider perspective of participation across Europe and educational development, in particular the Foundation Degree course just starting at Duchy College , Cornwall under the aegis of Plymouth University and Westcountry Rivers Trust.  The field visit to the Pembroke Mill Ponds gave a fascinating insight into public participation in action and the visit to Ian Heaps’ coarse fishery a fine example of rural economy generation.

The Tweed Foundation - Spring 2005
“Evolution of Fisheries Management”

The Spring Seminar took place on 9th-11th May 2005, and incorporated a workshop session on compliance issues for new, emerging and established trusts, which was led by Mazars LLP, ART’s auditors, and the first AGM of ART.

The seminar included presentations on the implications of the salmon stock conservation review by the EA, the developments in Scotland, the framework of why scientific research is undertaken and its practical application to achieve the desired aim of fisheries management and putting data into action using GIS. There were also presentations on the Westcountry Rivers Trust’s Atlantic Salmon Arc Project on salmon genetics, the impact of diffuse pollution on Atlantic salmon populations by CEFAS and the need to survey fish populations in order to target environmental action.

The overall impact of the seminar was to highlight the substantial work being undertaken by rivers trusts and the government agencies and ever improving co-operation between them in working in partnership to identify problems and to seek solutions based on rigorous and sound scientific principles in a cost effective manner.

Ribble Catchment Conservation Trust - Autumn 2004
"Water Framework Directive"

The Autumn Seminar took place on 9th/10th November 2004 at Chipping in the Hodder Valley, which forms part of the Ribble catchment. The Ribble is the pilot river basin for the implementation of the Water Framework Directive in England and Wales, which is acknowledged as the most important piece of legislation to shape our use of water and rivers for the ensuing two decades.
Over 100 delegates from Great Britain and Ireland gathered to hear of opportunities under the new EU Directive from key speakers including WWF, Defra, Environment Agency, NFU and leading Rivers Trusts. Following the seminar, delegates attended a glittering Awards Dinner where the Association and VIP’s announced the five recipients of the first awards of their kind, “in recognition of excellence and achievement” and their contribution to the growing Rivers Trusts Movement.

The 2004 Association of Rivers Trusts Awards, supported by WWF & HSBC included a cheque of £2000 for each recipient (to be spent on the river conservation project of their choice) together with a certificate and a specially commissioned, water themed vase in lead crystal.

“Award for Contribution to Science” presented by Professor Lynda Warren to: -
Dr Ronald Campbell, Tweed Foundation.

“Award for Contribution to Best Farm Practice” presented by Professor Ed Maltby to: -
Simon Evans, Wye & Usk Foundation.

“Award for Outstanding Contribution by a Volunteer” presented by John Bateman of HSBC to: - Philip Lord, Ribble Catchment Conservation Trust.

And two “Special Lifetime Awards for Outstanding Contribution to the Rivers Trust Movement” presented by Dr Dafydd Evans of the Environment Agency: -
The first to: - Dr Martin O’Grady, Central Fisheries Board (Ireland).

The second to: Dr Alastair Stephen, Scottish & Southern Energy plc (Scotland) - who was unavoidably absent and accepted on his behalf by Dr Ronald Campbell.

Arlin Rickard, Director of the Association of Rivers Trusts who acted as MC for the evening said, “These awards represent a landmark in the development of the Rivers Trust Movement and reflect a massive body of work undertaken over the last fifteen years. The Association is delighted to be able to mark each of the winner’s achievements in this way and raise the profile of Rivers Trust’s activities up and down the Country.”
This year’s award winners will be invited back to next year’s ceremony to give a short presentation on how they have chosen to spend their money. Nominations for the 2005 ART Awards programme will open in the spring with generous support from WWF, HSBC, Atlantic Salmon Trust and Salmon & Trout Association. Click here for further details.

The second day field visit in the upper Wye was used to demonstrate, by way of kick samples, the invertebrate life at the various points on the system and the impact, for example of land use practices, acidity and impoundments.

Based on information gathered from previous seminar workshops and requests from both established and emerging Trusts it is evident that often the surveying and monitoring techniques currently available are not particularly well suited to targeting project activity at a human community scale. Furthermore surveying methods are rarely integrated so that you may have to survey the same site a number of times for each different species or habitat feature. Compatibility and quality assurance is also an issue between Government Agencies and NGO's, with the consequence that results may be seen as less reliable and less transferable from location to location. The workshop conclusion was to establish a Technical Working Group and to develop a matrix approach, whereby various levels of survey and monitoring work can overlay each other with a degree of consistency and scientific robustness. The need to unify training and protocols was also highlighted. It was agreed that the group should comprise representatives from the Environment Agency, English Nature, consultants and leading Rivers Trusts. Surveying techniques vary depending on time, cost and the technical expertise of the person involved. For example, one intention is to encourage informed, quick and cheap walk over surveys based on a minimum training period using a pro-forma that can be relied upon, allowing targeting of more detailed research in priority areas. This will enable new and emerging trusts to achieve early gains, target effort, prioritise work and contribute to agency initiatives.

As well as supporting and celebrating the launch of the Pembrokeshire Rivers Trust, the seminar picked up, and developed, the fundraising themes from the first seminar, focusing on projects. In order to encourage flinders to provide support, it is important to have clearly identified objectives in place, together with targets and method of successful delivery providing value for money. Experience has shown that there are a range of approaches and tools available to assist in the design and delivery of worthwhile projects - not least the importance of partnerships and linking social, economic and environment issues and activities. The latter part of the seminar introduced some of the technical issues involved including, the adoption of a river basin approach and various methods and levels of surveying, both habitat and species. The importance of good research was highlighted. Key indicator species in particular can help to identify problems and bottlenecks. IT and modem electronic tools including Geographical Information Systems (GIS) were also discussed.