We are letting this river run wild again - here’s how

this is the river chew and is the location of one of our latest project areas in the UK we've actually just got back from a trip to understand how we can improve what is in part A really quite beautiful river that has delicate little Brooks which flow through sections of Rich ancient Woodland and this is really what this River should look like but there's also stretches which are in need of real Improvement in order for these rivers to thrive they need room to breathe and to flourish but surrounding land uses are pushing tight up against them harsh agricultural chemicals and sediments run off into the stream polluting and clogging the fine gravels which invertebrates and fish rely upon livestock have unrestricted access to trample through the stream compacting and churning up the stream bed and also defecating which pollutes the whole system then there's areas without trees which are left exposed and at risk of getting dangerously hot during the summer which can be fatal to the trout and salmon and then there is the complete opposite as well with areas which are way too dense and costing too much shade over the water for anything to live but we have a plan for action and in this video we're going to look at these issues and explore some pretty solid ways to solve them and of course breaking down how we plan to spend 58 350 pounds to rewild this river system so today I'm joined by Ellie our biologist say hi Ellie hi everyone and we're going to be meeting up with Simon from Bart which stands for the Bristol Avon Rivers trust and he's going to be showing us around but our partners on this project and they oversee and manage the rivers in this part of the country this project is actually based in the southwest of England and we're very excited to be expanding our impacts within the UK our guide for the day was Simon who is the CEO of Bart and is extremely enthusiastic and focused on bettering these Rivers for wildlife and people we had a bit of a tour to different sections of the river and along the way we saw some pretty awesome examples of riparian habitat that we'd like to create some of the problems the river is facing and some solutions that have already been installed by Bart to give us an idea of what we'll be doing to rewild this river system you see the chewy no no not that chewy the river chew is home to Atlantic salmon and Edna evidence suggests that it's Inland Brooks are used as spawning grounds for this remarkable species the salmon embark on a really tough migration from the Atlantic Ocean all the way back to these native spawning grounds leaping obstacles and dodging Predators but when there's additional stresses and conditions are made tough it makes their Journey even harder so as you'll see with our work we plan to make these conditions better for the salmon and that's actually really good for all other Wildlife too because when the waters are fit for salmon they're pretty much in great shape for all other biodiversity also before we get any further in case you're wondering hey it's Rob and he's talking about River restoration again like in one of our recent project videos at glassy Farm where we're building a fake Beaver Dam this is not that same project in case there was any confusion it just so happens that riparian and River restoration is actually a really solid way to make big impacts riparian ecosystems are where land and Aquatic habitats come together meaning a whole host of different species interact within a pretty concentrated space forming a green and wild Corridor throughout the landscape and when Ellie was researching and scoring this project what really stood out was the well-documented value of riparian habitats and how neglected these interventions are compared with other habitats such as Woodlands before we get into some of the problems facing the chew and the opportunities we have to rewild let's take a look at some really beautiful examples of river and riparian habitat Simon took us to Lord's Woods where rich Woodland blankets the river as it quietly flows through and it's also where Bart have already been pretty busy themselves the beavers have been in is that you beavering around you always get to channel your inner Beaver isn't it what we found is this area is just completely disconnected and you've got these lovely shelves that you know could create a better habitat um if floodplains were connected so we put in lots of large fully debris all the way around this stretch going up here just to try and create the connection but also you know when you've got stretches like this it creates scour you get your deeper pools starting to emerge further Downstream you've got your lovely riffle starting to sort of form through here and it just helps cleanse the bed which is you know this is perfect fish habitat and your inverts are going to love this so Simon is explaining the importance of Woody debris in the river and how it provides habitat affects the flow redirecting the water and really just catalyzes biodiversity growth this section of the river felt really magical all the little flowers within the Lush undergrowth and trees providing that dappled light through to the water made it feel really special and over on the other book Ellie and I made a quite interesting Discovery oops oh I've Disturbed it a little bit oops try not to be so clumsy but we've got a little bit excited about this because in here I'll just load a little invertebrates what kind of what kind of species are there in here are they uh we've seen some carrots fly um and then there's some nymphs of all sorts of different invertebrates as well um and this is exactly what we're looking to recreate uh elsewhere along the brick and this is absolutely perfect for feeding loads of the trout any salmon that come up here as well as when the nymphs um pupate out and form into the river flows um they will be feeding all of your bats and birds as well we did our best with the GoPro to capture those little critters crawling around in order to do this properly we will need some fancy new camera upgrades at another location we got a little bit excited at some holes in the Bank of the stream there was no hard signs but we thought that they might have been water volts the more time we spend in these better examples of riparian habitat it became clear that these habitats are thriving for two main reasons firstly there's vegetation the right amount of vegetation too not too much that costs complete shade and not too little that the water is in full sunlight this vegetation also creates opportunities for that Woody debris in the water and secondly there space for the trees to grow undisturbed on either side of the bank to form that riparian habitat but as we visited our potential project areas or sites where Bart had worked previously the adjacent land was almost always some form of Agriculture whether if it was pasture where animals grazed or productive Fields where crops were grown it was almost always too close and what happens is this runoff and this disturbance creates silting which Smothers the gravels that fish use for spawning and it suffocates all other life within the fresh water when this is combined with absolutely no Riverside vegetation the water is exposed to the Sun and can get dangerously hot not to mention the lack of vegetation along the banks leads to erosion which in turn leads to more silting and this is made worse when the river is completely accessible to livestock they trample through it kicking up sediment compacting and collapsing the banks while continuously pooping in the water which is terrible for a wide variety of species whoa there boy that is really sludgy that's very sludgy oh it's that little sheep who oh I see it's just okay don't worry it's reassuring it's not cheap essentially in order for our rivers to thrive we need to allow them space to breathe and to be undisturbed by human influence but besides creating space there's also some really cool ways we can actively rewild them but just before we get into our intervention now I think would be a pretty good time to tell you how we fund all of this work and how we find all of our other projects so the work here at Mossy Earth is completely funded by our members everyday people that want to contribute to making a Wilder a more resilient planet we use this money to put rewilding projects together in a wide diversity of ecosystems ranging from Western Meadows in the sea to termite Mounds in the desert or even Icelandic forests to make all of this work we have our own team of biologists like Ellie who develop our own projects or find the best Partners like we are doing now with Bart and to ensure that you can track your impact we report on these projects on a weekly basis in the account we add all transactions action and impacts to an in-depth transparency database we write a detailed monthly Field Report and we also make these videos oh and if you wanted to get in touch with the team we are always available for a call or a chat on Discord so if you want to get involved then become a member there'll be a link down in the comments of this video or just type in the browser mossy.org to find out more so what are we doing to enhance and restore nature back to these Waters well what's exciting about this project is we are focusing our efforts on trying to improve the whole river system and as such we'll focus on two different areas a section of the Candlestick Brook and the barford brook and they both flow into the two there's a number of ways we're going to actively rewild this whether one being management toward the amount of sunlight that gets through to the water the right balance of light coming through to the water is crucial for life to develop and within the canopy the desired ratio is 60 shade and 40 light to create that dappled light to ensure the optimum temperatures of the water especially protecting shallow streams during hot summer days where changes in water temperature can be fatal to fish so our work will include the planting of trees to create shade and the thinning out of sections of vegetation that are just too dense as well as providing the right balance of light trees offer so much more to the river they stabilize the banks with their Roots preventing erosion they drop Woody debris which we know is essential for the development of invertebrates but also to act as refuge for fish and bigger pieces of wood lodged in the river can redirect the flow and create that diversity which is so valuable to create new courses and Wetland areas remember that beautiful Woodland well trees here have been failed beaver style to introduce wood into the system and pinning these in place ensures they don't budge during high flow and this is something we could be doing along our project sites these structures in the water trap sediment which is vital for cleaning the gravels that aquatic vegetation inverts and fish rely upon and of course the other big part to all of this is creating those buffer strips which allow those corridors of vegetation to flourish this means stakeholder engagement to discuss reallocating land use and creating fencing Simon showed us a series of ponds that have been dug within the buffer to this agricultural field this ditch along here is actually the river flowing through and before these ponds were dug sediment and chemicals were washing straight into the Watercourse these ponds have pipes which allows the cleaner water to pass through once the cellarman has settled to the bottom of the ponds this is just one example of what we can do in our buffer strips these grazing postures on our project area have the potential to turn into Lush Wetland habitats Simon showed us a really nice example of this not too far Downstream I mean this is what we'd love to be able to do in other spots along the bathroom if we can take it out of you know pasture grazing pasture and turn areas into this um yeah that's where your biodiversity is going to thrive isn't it currently we are in talks with landowners but it's looking likely that we will be able to replicate something like this on both of our sites which is really exciting in terms of the budget we have put aside 58 350 pounds to be spent over the next five years which includes monitoring our intervention now that is a significant amount of money of course but as mentioned earlier riparian habitat when healthy can be incredibly Rich providing opportunities and life for a whole host of different organisms acting as that green Corridor that can extend mile upon mile so that's why we feel that these kinds of projects are really bang for your buck we're just kicking off this project and we're really excited to bring you along as it progresses stakeholder engagement is beginning now and then the river restoration work will be taking place at the end of the year so expect another update around that time so that's the first look at some of our projects here on the river 2 and its tributaries and I'm just really excited about what we can do here seems like there's so much potential so much impact that we can have quite quickly as well so it's been really nice to meet Simon and hear all of his ideas and I think we can do something really special here so be sure to subscribe as well because we work really hard to make these videos to keep you updated so subscribe with the Bell turned on and if you want to become a member and you want to know more check out morsi.earth thanks for watching I'll see you next time

Channel: Mossy Earth

Views: 325,436

Keywords: river rewilding, river restoration, rewilding britain, uk river restoration, rewilding uk, transforming a river, rewilding a river, mossy earth, mossy earth rewilding, reforestation, rewilding the uk, scottish rewilding, mossy earth uk, salmon, salmon rewilding, rewilding england, england rivers, mossy earth england rewilding, mossy earth england, mossy earth salmon

Id: RaGXY3JVlMI

Length: 13min 2sec (782 seconds)

Published: Fri May 19 2023