Resilient Wetlands – How we’re working to achieve our vision

Devon’s wetlands and watercourses provide resilience to flooding and drought, healthy fisheries and wildlife habitats, fantastic recreational opportunities and a clean water supply.

Contacts:

Board lead:  Lewis Jones, South West water

Officer lead:  Mark Rice, EA + Orlando Venn, NE

Agricultural Resource Management report, 2016 – (Written by the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group (FWAG), for the Devon LNP) This report outlines any barriers to good land and soil management, identifies what current initiatives are missing and suggests actions needed in order to improve land management to improve flood risk management in Devon.

Key partner activities

Identification of priorities and actions at catchment level is led by Devon’s Catchment Partnerships.  For more information see http://swcatchments.info/

• Upstream Thinking is South West Water’s flagship programme of environmental improvements aimed at improving water quality in river catchments in order to reduce water treatment costs.  The initiative is supported by a number of partners.  Current Devon projects funded through Upstream Thinking include:
  • Dartmoor Mires – led by Dartmoor National Park Authority
  • Exmoor Mires – led by South West Water
  • Working Wetlands – led by Devon Wildlife Trust

• The North Devon Biosphere produced this video to show how farmers in North Devon have managed the land to create new wetlands and help to preserve nutrients in soil and save money.

• Northern Devon Nature Improvement Area is a partnership led by Devon Wildlife Trust which covers the Torridge catchment.
• Defra’s Catchment Restoration Fund provides funding for three years from 2012/13 for projects which help to meet Water Framework Directive targets (read the Catchment Restoration Fund: Environment Agency Summary Report (2012, 2013)).  There are four projects in Devon  led by the West Country Rivers Trust.  These are catchments of the Axe and Exe, Dart and Teign, South Hams and Taw.
• Taw River Improvement Project  – otherwise known as TRIP, the Taw River Improvment Project involves restoration work, through targeted habitat management work and by reducing the amount of pollution entering the rivers, with an aim of improving water quality across the whole catchment to improve the health of this vital river ecosystem
• Catchment Sensitive Farming provides diffuse pollution advice to land managers. Devon’s Priority Catchments are the Rivers Axe and Otter, South Devon, River Exe and Tamar – Tavy.  Advice is also available via the Taw, Torridge and North Devon Streams Partnership (one of nine partnerships across England).
• The Catchment Management Information Gateway, developed by the West Country Rivers Trust, aims to provide up-to-date information and resources relating to all aspects of catchment management (under development).

Here are some Documents and Links relevant to the Resilient Wetlands theme.