West Cumbria Rivers Trust are celebrating the achievements of their three-year Biffa Award funded project on the River Irt catchment as it draws to an end.
The aim of the project was to improve the river for mussels, fish, riverside wildlife and for the enjoyment of people. The project has benefited from fantastic support from landowners, fishing clubs, funders, government bodies and volunteers which has enabled all involved to work together to achieve numerous improvements to the habitat within the catchment. Improvements in habitat were achieved by completing 6,368m of riverside fencing, 650m of bank stabilisation, planting 2,550 trees, coppicing 2,000m of river bank trees, restoring 265m of river and installing a pond. In addition, our fantastic volunteers have turned out in all weathers to help us undertake works and have donated 449 days of volunteer time to the project.
Chris West, project officer for the project said “I have been overwhelmed with the support we have had with everybody involved with this project without which has allowed the project to achieve so much.”
Shaun Davies, volunteer and steering group member said “The work by the project has been successful in achieving its aims and is a credit to the team involved. It has delivered new skills to volunteers, and promoted new understandings to different peer groups including local schools.”
There is however still a great amount of work still to be done to secure the future of the freshwater mussel within the river and to bolster the population of salmon. West Cumbria Rivers Trust are delighted therefore to announce that we have obtained some interim funding from United Utilities to continue our work.
If you would like to get involved with the project, our volunteer events, run in partnership with the National Trust, are continuing on the second Wednesday of every month. For more information about volunteering or the project please contact Chris West: 07496590987 or chris@westcumbriariverstrust.org
