Tales from the River Ouse, Meeting Report
On Monday 4th November we heard how 4 organisations were delivering a combined effort to protect nature along the river Ouse and throughout the wider Catchment. The message central to the event was one of coordination, communication and partnership, not only between organisations but between landowner and organisation too. Below are a few short summaries of each organisations presentations.
Weald to Waves
In order to address the local reality of Nature’s decline right on our doorstep, a number of founding members created the concept of the Weald to Waves corridor. The corridor, covering 20 000 hectares, spans the three river catchments of the Adur, Arun and Ouse linking the High Weald to the south coast. The initiative hopes to tackle the increasing fragmentation of biodiversity by applying the Lawton Principles of bigger, better, and more joined up habitats to its effort to restore the corridor landscape. The talk emphasised the need to form powerful relationships with farmers and landowners given that 70% of the land within the corridor is currently farmland. The talk closed with a brief overview of what it means to pledge to the corridor and the steps involved in doing this. The act of pledging is a simple way to declare your interest in being involved with the corridor. It was made clear that engaging with this process, did not tie your land into any kind of statutory agreement and would not influence in any way the extent to which you may wish to be involved in the future. There are however, a number of benefits that emerge from the act of pledging. Pledging initiates a free advisory and mapping process with the Weald to Waves Landscape advisor Ryan, through which they establish what habitats are present on your land and discuss how you see yourself contributing to the corridor. Pledging also offers access to a number of useful resources and an events series coming in the new year.
Ouse and Adur Rivers Trust (OART)
Our next speaker from OART spoke of the importance of holistic thinking when addressing environmental issues. There is a growing need to think with the whole catchment in mind when making land use decisions. OART, ongoing since 2011, has over time developed a plethora of data upon which to drive an evidence based approach to any work that they do. As a result, a fundamental part of what they offer is the ability to collect data on the behalf of landowners, farmers and any individuals who wish to work with them. This data is then used to deliver the right action in the right place for the right purpose. OART then delved further into some case studies of projects they had delivered for the catchment including projects to increase connectivity, increase the efficient use of water resources and create habitat. In many ways the delivery of these projects is addressing the 4 aspects of the Lawton principles mentioned by Weald to Waves. This emphasised how the same underlying principles influence the activities of all the organisations working along the river Ouse. Despite them being able to offer you different services, these are all in aid of one coordinated goal.
Wilder Ouse
OART was then followed by the Wilder Ouse project. Previously known as the Sussex Flow Initiative, the Wilder Ouse project is a partnership program run under the Sussex Wildlife Trust. With a small team of 1 and limited capacity, Wilder Ouse emphasised how they lean on their partnerships with the other organisations in the room to deliver projects for the river. They also make the most of willing volunteers which enables them to undertake smaller projects for free. A couple of the activities that Wilder Ouse get involved in includes the creation of leaky dams and scrapes as well as tree planting. This helps to deliver a variety of environmental benefits including carbon sequestration, nature based solutions, natural flood management, habitat creation and more. The Wilder Ouse project offers important local scale delivery which when tied into the larger scale work of its partners contributes to the positively changing natural landscape of the catchment.
Waterlife Recovery Trust
Next, we had a speaker from the Waterlife recovery trust finish our series of talks. The presentation offered an exciting example of how new players are coming into the fold to deliver for nature on the river. The Talk focused on the recent success of the charity’s Waterlife Recovery East mink eradication project which has sparked demand for a similar project to be deployed in the South East. The talk covered the methods and means of delivering a successful eradication project and explained how landowners and farmers could get involved by sharing any information they have regarding mink or the presence of mink traps on their land. Waterlife Recovery Trust highlighted the importance of their work, emphasising that in order for nature to recover we must replicate the most optimal conditions to help it along the way by eradicating damaging invasive species. Their work is a unique but vital string in the web of organisations working in unison across the Ouse.