Biodiversity, Habitats and Landscapes
Changes in land management and river engineering have a big impact on our wildlife and biodiversity. Natural flood meadow habitat is rare in the Evenlode catchment due to changes to arable farming and past dredging activities, whilst weirs and other barriers block the passage of fish and reduce their access to spawning grounds. Catchment-based approaches to land management have considerable potential to produce effective actions on the ground and deliver a range of ecosystem services.
Such actions rely on different stakeholders engaging together to incorporate different values and benefits in decision making processes. In the Evenlode catchment, we have the potential for multiple scales of value being delivered through projects, and seek to achieve active engagement at different points and with very different groups of stakeholders. We aim to deliver projects, such as river restoration and wetland creation, that will enhance biodiversity and improve the habitat and ecology of our rivers.
Intensive farming practises are highly dependent on high fertiliser and pesticide applications and impact heavily on water quality and biodiversity. Sustainable farming is being actively encouraged in the catchment in order to protect soil health, water quality and wildlife.
30 ponds created
6+ hectares wetland created
3 fish passages created to allow fish migration
