Case study:River of Life

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Location: 51° 38' 2.42" N, 1° 9' 11.22" W

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Project overview

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Status	In progress
Project web site	http://www.earthtrust.org.uk/Our-work/waterandwetlands/RiverofLife.aspx
Themes	Fisheries, Flood risk management, Habitat and biodiversity, Social benefits
Country	England
Main contact forename	Lizzie
Main contact surname	Rhymes
Main contact user ID
Contact organisation	Environment Agency
Contact organisation web site	http://http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/news/151049.aspx
Partner organisations	The Earth Trust
Parent multi-site project
This is a parent project encompassing the following projects	No

Pre-project bank line at the River of Life project site (River Restoration Centre)

Project summary

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The Environment Agency and the Earth Trust are collaborating to restore wetland features and threatened wildlife habitats along 2.5 km of the main River Thames in Oxfordshire, upstream of Shillingford. The River of Life project will create a large area of biodiverse habitat, including backwaters and wetland scrapes, across approximately 50 hectares of Earth Trust land, with a vision to create a truly wild river reach.

Objectives

• To create a new landscape scale area of wetland habitats, including wet woodland, fen, reedbed, ponds and scrapes, backwaters and seasonally wet grassland and meadow.

• To address Water Framework Directive failure for fish along this section of the main Thames, by increasing the provision of backwater and sheltered habitat to act as spawning areas for fish and provide refuge areas at times of high flow, thereby improving the ecological status.

• To engage people with habitats by providing access routes, opportunities for volunteering and learning. By providing boardwalks, viewing platforms and linking with the Thames footpath to encourage exploration and engagement with water.

• To enhance the value of ecosystems services, including the provision of: biodiverse habitat, fish refuge, recreation, flood alleviation, flow regulation, water and soil quality improvement and carbon sequestration.

Design and technique

The project has been three years in planning, from 2010 when the Earth Trust purchased the site to October 2013 when construction began. Since works began, seven new ponds, two reed beds and five new backwaters have been created at the site. Over 15,000m3 of soil has been removed from the floodplain to land in the upper catchment also owned by the trust, helping to create additional flood storage. In total the finished scheme hopes to create c. 34,600 cubic meters of extra capacity within the one in five years flood zone. The project plans outline four main breaches. All backwaters will be linked to the main Thames, allowing fish to move in and out freely.

The project has taken place in three phases; firstly the hard landscaping to excavate backwaters, scrapes and ponds, which is now complete. This phase was led by the Environment Agency. The second phase which will begin in the spring of 2014 will encompass more detailed habitat creation, such as planting of willow, reedbed, wet woodland and grassland restoration. Finally the site will be made ready for general public access by installing information boards, creation of new footpaths linking to the Thames footpath and coordinating events and activities. The last two phases of the project will be led by the Earth Trust.

Pre-project site investigations allowed palaeo-channels to be identified and incorporated into the project design. An Eco-hydrologist was appointed at the design stage to assess the best locations for the different habitat types. Monitoring was undertaken for three years to ensure the best way to use water on site to sustain key habitats, without the need for significant intervention through water level management. Monitoring was provided free by Earth Trust volunteers.

The new habitat area will link to Wittenham Wood SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) and SAC (Special Conservation Area). Together, this area will now form a continuous expanse of 150ha of diverse wildlife habitat.

The site is in a Biodiversity Opportunity Area identified by Thames Valley Environmental Records Centre. It will benefit many BAP (Biodiversity Action Plan) priority species including; seven species of birds, seven species of invertebrate, four herptiles, as well as brown hare, otter, water vole, brown long-eared and soprano pipstrelle bat. Pre-project investigations included ecological monitoring of the site, including mapping of protected, rare or locally significant species.

The vision at the heart of the project was to convert species poor grassland in the floodplain to a biodiverse wetland habitat, whilst still maintaining productivity of the site for arable and pastoral farming. During construction, all material generated from excavations was successfully reused on site and no material needed to be bought on site, with the exception of some “type 1” hardcore to form haul roads. Careful management of this material during construction meant that it will be reused to improve access roads. This significantly increased the sustainable credentials of the project, also reducing the carbon footprint. Top and sub-soils were spread on arable fields owned by the Earth Trust, outside the floodplain, and will be ploughed into existing soils. Gravel extracted whilst excavating the deeper features has been used to line fen habitat areas, create a surface for footpaths across the site and provide shallow beach features along the margin with the main Thames. Clay has been used to line ditches which channel water to reedbeds.

The project was undertaken in an area of high archaeological interest, therefore requiring pre-construction archaeological investigations. To mitigate for this a buffer was established around areas of greatest archaeological risk. The project only had one short delay due to the excavation of Roman human remains. This was dealt with quickly thanks to the county archaeologist.

Monitoring will be undertaken to demonstrate benefits provided by the project, specifically relating to water quality, catchment run-off rates, as well as assessing productivity of farming when working side by side with environmental enhancement. A project specific engagement programme “Water for Life” will ensure positive engagement with interested parties and will be led by the Earth Trust.

The River Restoration Centre would like to thank the Environment Agency and the Earth Trust for providing the information, pictures and plans for this case study.

Monitoring surveys and results

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Electrofishing will be repeated post project to assess Water Framework Directive improvement for fish. An ecosystems services assessment will be carried out post-project. This aims to assess if land productivity can be maintained, or even improved post project. Water quality monitoring will be carried out to assess the effects of reedbeds and other measures. A three year programme of pre-project water level monitoring is already complete and has informed the location of different habitat types as part of the overall design phase. Ecological monitoring will continue on from the pre-project baseline, including mapping of protected, rare or locally significant species at the site. There will be a range of opportunities for volunteering during phases two and three of the project, as well as part of the subsequent management of the site to undertake monitoring and maintenance, coordinated by the Earth Trust.

Lessons learnt

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Image gallery

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River of Life pre-works (River Restoration Centre)

River of Life plan view map (the Earth Trust)

Phase 1 works taking place (the Environment Agency)

Phase 1 works taking place (the Environment Agency)

Some backwater restoration complete (the Environment Agency)

Construction underway since 2013. Sustainable use of resources is an integral part of the project (the Environment Agency)

Sunset across the River of Life site before construction began (the Environment Agency)

Catchment and subcatchment Select a catchment/subcatchment Edit the catchment and subcatchment details (affects all case studies in this subcatchment) Catchment River basin district Thames River basin Thame and South Chilterns Subcatchment River name Thames Wallingford to Caversham Area category 1000 - 10000 km² Area (km2) Maximum altitude category 200 - 500 m Maximum altitude (m) 231231 m <br />0.231 km <br />23,100 cm <br /> Dominant geology Calcareous Ecoregion Great Britain Dominant land cover Arable and Horticulture Waterbody ID GB106039030331 Site Edit site Name River of Life WFD water body codes GB106039030331 WFD (national) typology Low, Large, Calcareous WFD water body name Thames Wallingford to Caversham Pre-project morphology Single channel, Straightened Reference morphology backwaters, wetland, wet woodland, scrapes Desired post project morphology backwaters, wetland, wet woodland, scrapes Heavily modified water body Yes National/international site designation Local/regional site designations Protected species present No Invasive species present No Species of interest Dominant hydrology Artificially regulated Dominant substrate Clay, Sand River corridor land use Grassland, Intensive agriculture (arable), Urban Average bankfull channel width category Average bankfull channel width (m) Average bankfull channel depth category Average bankfull channel depth (m) Mean discharge category Mean annual discharge (m3/s) Average channel gradient category Average channel gradient Average unit stream power (W/m2) Project background Edit project background Reach length directly affected (m) 25002,500 m <br />2.5 km <br />250,000 cm <br /> Project started 2013/10/01 Works started Works completed Project completed Total cost category 500 - 1000 k€ Total cost (k€) Benefit to cost ratio Funding sources Cost for project phases Phase cost category cost exact (k€) Lead organisation Contact forename Contact surname Investigation and design Stakeholder engagement and communication Works and works supervision Post-project management and maintenance Monitoring Supplementary funding information This project has been jointly funded and delivered by the Environment Agency and the Earth Trust. Reasons for river restoration Edit reasons for restoration Mitigation of a pressure Flood risk management, Urbanisation Hydromorphology Biology macro-invertebrates, Fish Physico-chemical phosphate Other reasons for the project Landscape enhancement, Recreation Measures Edit Measures Structural measures Bank/bed modifications Create breaches in the bank Floodplain / River corridor Creation of backwaters, Creation of wet woodland, Creation of wetland, Creation of pond Planform / Channel pattern Other Non-structural measures Management interventions Social measures (incl. engagement) Boards-Interpretation areas will be installed to disseminate information and engage and educate local users, Decreased flood risk, Improved public access Other Monitoring Hydromorphological quality elements Edit Hydromorphological quality elements Element When monitored Type of monitoring Control site used Result Before measures After measures Qualitative Quantitative Biological quality elements Edit biological quality elements Element When monitored Type of monitoring Control site used Result Before measures After measures Qualitative Quantitative Fish Yes Yes No Yes No Physico-chemical quality elements Edit Physico-chemical quality elements Element When monitored Type of monitoring Control site used Result Before measures After measures Qualitative Quantitative Any other monitoring, e.g. social, economic Edit Other responses Element When monitored Type of monitoring Control site used Result Before measures After measures Qualitative Quantitative ecosystems services assessment No Yes No No No Monitoring documents Upload monitoring documents Additional documents and videos Upload additional documents Additional links and references Edit links and references Link Description http://www.earthtrust.org.uk/Our-work/waterandwetlands/RiverofLife.aspx Earth Trust River of Life project page http://www.flickr.com/photos/environment-agency/sets/72157636386033603/ River of Life Flickr page http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/news/151049.aspx Environment Agency project page http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-24431187 BBC news article http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-24454410 BBC news video clip Supplementary Information Edit Supplementary Information