Case study:Ribble Life Together

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Location: 53° 53' 19.04" N, 2° 23' 11.48" W

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Project overview

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Status	Complete
Project web site	http://ribblelifetogether.org/
Themes	Environmental flows and water resources, Fisheries, Habitat and biodiversity, Land use management - agriculture, Land use management - forestry, Monitoring, Social benefits, Water quality
Country	England
Main contact forename	Harvey
Main contact surname	Hamilton-Thorpe
Main contact user ID	User:Harveyht
Contact organisation	Ribble Rivers Trust
Contact organisation web site	http://ribbletrust.org.uk
Partner organisations	Ribble Rivers Trust, Environment Agency, Forestry Commission, Natural England, Marine Management Organisation, United Utilities, Ribble Fisheries Consultative Association, Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, National Farmers Union, Groundwork, Woodland Trust, RSPB, Lancashire Wildlife Trust, Lancaster University.
This is a parent project encompassing the following projects

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Project summary

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Ribble Life Together (RLT) brought together a range of stakeholders, interest groups and the communities through the Ribble Life Partnership. Using a prioritised ecosystem service approach, the project aimed to improve the natural river heritage of the Ribble Catchment for people and wildlife in an inclusive and integrated way. RLT brought many organisations together who all have a common goal of improving water quality, reducing the risk of flooding and droughts and increasing river connectivity and biodiversity.

A key driver of the project was to make significant improvements to our river system by delivering an ambitious programme of river channel improvement projects and habitat creation projects. This would include 14 fish pass or weir removal projects, 30 new woodlands and delivering 14 wetland projects. These would vary in size and scope, designing bespoke projects for each location that would reflect and enhance local conditions and needs, and provide multiple benefits for the river and local community. For example, partial weir removals, rock ramp fish pass projects, technical fish pass projects, bypass channels, leaky dams, peat restoration, wildlife ponds and riparian woodlands that create wildlife corridors and strengthen habitat networks.

Alongside the improvements to our rivers, Ribble Life Together aimed to connect people to their rivers and our work on a scale never achieved before, it aimed to reach new audiences and grow awareness throughout the catchment about the issues our rivers face. This included a catchment wide farm advice programme, working with farmers and landowners to increase knowledge about soil and water resource management, build trust and develop new environment friendly farm improvement and habitat creation projects. We would increase engagement with rivers through our education programme, volunteering, apprenticeships, public events. And we would make our rivers more accessible through art projects, guided walks and by creating digital, online content such as short films that would allow people, who otherwise would not be able to visit their local river, to experience and learn about the riverscapes around them. We wanted people to explore and celebrate the rich heritage of the river and encouraging more people to discover the wonder of the river for themselves.

The result would be a healthier river system and a catchment that would be a better place to work, live and visit, whilst also engaging people in their local rivers and encouraging them to take positive action to conserve and improve them.

Monitoring surveys and results

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Monitoring and evaluation was embedded from the outset, designed around the aims of the National Lottery Heritage Fund funding programme, looking at outputs – counting deliverables, and outcomes – the change we have made as a result of our work. Outcomes for people were demonstrated through individual testimonials, commentary or feedback throughout the programme. For our river improvement projects, more detailed monitoring and assessment was carried out through a series of case study sites illustrating different types of projects and the positive impact that these projects can have on our environment. Methods included temperature logging, fish radio tagging and mark and recapture studies, soil compaction, flow measurements and food web analysis.

The people focussed evaluation was carried out internally, with a mixture of citizen science, professional or academic investigation, as well as the project team for our river projects. Where possible we tried to be innovative and creative, integrating our evaluation with the engagement work we carried out to raise awareness and involve people in our delivery.

Long term impact will be measured through our annual electro-fishing monitoring programme, as well as return monitoring and maintenance visits and an expanded citizen science programme, which is a key legacy of this programme.

Lessons learnt

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Processes can overcome problems: With a large programme of capital projects, it was essential we kept the whole programme moving forward. We created a matrix for each project type - woodlands, wetlands and fish pass / weir removal - detailing every milestone we needed to reach in order to successfully deliver each project. For example, creating a woodland development process that mirrored the approval process the Forestry Commission carry out woodland creation. This meant we carried out the same checks, prior to application, that the Forestry Commission would undertake, effectively pre-screening them ourselves. This meant all of our woodland projects were approved. By ensuring each individual project followed the route we had developed, and being able to quickly track progress, we were able to complete our capital works programme in the first three years of delivery. This had been planned to give us a final 'year of celebration', but in the end it meant that all of our capital projects had been delivered before COVID19 hit in 2020. We continue to adapt and improve this system as guidance and priorities change. Whilst this process is more widely used now, back in 2017 we believe this was not routinely done for these types of capital works projects in such a systematic way.

Keep it simple: It’s amazing that we’ve been able to achieve so much, but did we give ourselves too much to do? By doing so many things we have been able to try new things, but did this stop us making the most of everything we did? Perhaps if we had done slightly less, we could have spent more time on being more inclusive and celebrating success. In the end we did achieve everything we set out to do, but this is something we’ve thought about when considering new projects.

Become more inclusive: We have certainly widened our audience and worked with communities across the catchment, and this was our key aim five years ago. However, our ongoing aim is to reflect all communities across the catchment, and we feel we still have some way to go with this. We are already exploring ideas for projects that will help us work in those communities that, so far, we have failed to reach, and this is something we’re very excited about for the future. Also, Ribble Life Together focussed on natural heritage – is there more to explore?

Celebrate success: Because we are focussed so much on ‘getting things done’, we can sometimes forget to take a moment, reflect and celebrate what we have achieved. We are far more likely to finish something, then quickly move on to the next piece of work. Unless people know about what we’re doing and why we’re doing it, it can’t have the full impact it needs. We are getting better at this, but this is something we need to do on a more regular basis.

Image gallery

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Catchment and subcatchment Select a catchment/subcatchment Edit the catchment and subcatchment details (affects all case studies in this subcatchment) Catchment River basin district North West River basin Ribble Subcatchment River name RIBBLE Area category Area (km2) Maximum altitude category Maximum altitude (m) Dominant geology Ecoregion Great Britain Dominant land cover Waterbody ID GB531207112400 Other case studies in this subcatchment: Diffusing the Issue in rural Ribble, Long Preston Deeps Flood Plain Project Site Edit site Name WFD water body codes WFD (national) typology WFD water body name Pre-project morphology Reference morphology Desired post project morphology Heavily modified water body National/international site designation Local/regional site designations Protected species present Invasive species present Species of interest Dominant hydrology Dominant substrate River corridor land use 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) Project started Works started Works completed Project completed Total cost category 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 Reasons for river restoration Edit reasons for restoration Mitigation of a pressure Hydromorphology Biology Physico-chemical Other reasons for the project Measures Edit Measures Structural measures Bank/bed modifications Floodplain / River corridor Planform / Channel pattern Other Non-structural measures Management interventions Social measures (incl. engagement) 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 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 Monitoring documents Upload monitoring documents Additional documents and videos Upload additional documents Additional links and references Edit links and references Link Description Supplementary Information Edit Supplementary Information