Property:Monitoring surveys and results
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
This is a property of type Text.
B
The ecology of the main stream has improved, but bank vegetation did not respond as intended. The banks turned out to be too narrow and too steep, leaving very little room for an adapted vegetation to develop. The retention basins are prone to getting filled in with vegetation and sediment. They require a lot of maintenance just to prevent them from turning into carrs (Dutch: elzenbroekbos) through plant succession. This makes the basins less suitable for water retention. However, some of the carrs that have started to grow are in fact desirable and contribute to a more varied landscape. +
F
The ecosystem improvements are under monitoring through the M.A.I.S.O.N. project. +
H
The ecosystem services assessment being undertaken for the project aims to provide an evaluation of the various goods and services provided by the existing ecosystems across the Holnicote Estate, and those anticipated following the range of expected habitat modifications scheduled as part of the catchment interventions. In addition, based on the most robust information available, the assessment will provide an evaluation of the value of these anticipated goods and services relative to the capital investment.
The National Trust is also co-funding a PhD student at Exeter University to establish whether the catchment management interventions being implemented can help to improve water quality. The research will complement the catchment-wide hydrological monitoring taking place with some additional chemical, biological and physical water quality monitoring to examine the effectiveness of the intervention measures to also meet water quality objectives.
For more information, refer to http://ccmhub.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Holnicote-Position-Paper-v9.pdf +
Z
The effect of the measures on the abundance of macroinvertebrate and fish has been monitored. The experiments did not yield any favourable results, probably because the selected streams have a rather low discharge and are therefore less suitable for this type of measures. +
M
The effect of the measures on the abundance of macroinvertebrate and fish has been monitored. The dead wood experiments did not yield any favourable results, probably because the stream has a rather low discharge and is therefore less suitable for this type of measures.
Vegetation development is monitored by FLORON.
Macroinvertebrates are monitored at 3-4 locations per stream as part of a regional project in the Marswetering, Overijssels Kanaal and Beentjesgraven.
The overall ecological quality ratios of the stream has improved. +
D
The first attempt to create a natural levee with indigenous vegetation was succesful. +
R
The first results of the post-work monitoring are in overall terms encouraging. An improvement of the quality of habitats and of the macro-benthic population was demonstrated. The fish population shows some improvement, although the goal to restore a structured trout population is not yet met. From a social point of view, the operation was very well accepted. +
L
The first three years of monitoring are published in the following journal article:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925857419300370
The data from this study are available from PANGAEA:
https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.898301
Monitoring work funded by the Scottish Government (RESAS) at the site is ongoing to give a long term (10 years) assessment of the project. +
A
The following aspects were monitored for at least two years (vegetation and birds longer): accretion / erosion on site (altimetry); accretion/erosion off site; scour (in breach B); bathymetry (one off); tidal levels and velocities; suspended solids off site; salinity off site; invertebrates off site (one off); vegetation; birds; fish; amphibians/reptiles +
The functionality of the Rain Gardens will be monitored by the Structures and Watercourses team from the London Borough of Enfield during and after rainfall events, and during dry weather spells.
Local perception of Sustainable Drainage Systems is also being noted. Alma Primary School have been particularly perceptive to the project and have engaged their pupils in "River" sessions with Thames21. As a result, the Primary School are keen to employ their own SuDS features within the school premises, and have already retrofitted several Thames21 Rainplanters intercepting roof runoff. +
F
The implementation
of monitoring
programs is essential
to evaluate the
correct functioning of
the fishways. In this
regard, there is a lack
of information about
this action. +
The implementation
of monitoring
programs is essential
to evaluate the
correct functioning of
the fishway. There is
no evidence that
monitoring programs
are being taken for
this action. +
T
The indroduction of large quantities of wood has increased the variation in substrate. Plant growth has been observed between the dead wood fragments, but there has been no positive effect on biodiversity. In some parts of the stream, there has been a stagnation of the flow and a silt accumulation due to the presence of watermills. +
L
The information regarding the monitoring of La Gotera dam removal is very scarce. A
study was carried out prior to the demolition of the dam and another one a year later.
Three points were sampled: a reference point upstream the dam, other near the dam
wall and a third one downstream the dam. The fish samplings yielded no significant
results. However, all macroinvertebrate indices did show an improvement, especially
in the sampling point downstream of the dam. +
R
The installation of artificial berms allow to reconnect the
low flow and a flood channel, to reduce the low flow channel and to increase the flow section.
The increase of channel sinuosity has improved the flows and habitats diversification.
The limited monitoring data currently available do not allow a proper assessment of the operation. However, many spawnings sites(lake trout and whitefish) were observed during the winter after works. +
B
The main actions have been: Implantation of amphibian ponds, fenced construction for won, elimination of invasive species, installation of artificial islets. As a result, local vegetation have been increased, new species of birds are nesting in the zone, populations of amphibians and lepidoptera are increasing. +
The main aim of the project was to reduce the amount of silt entering the upper Ballinderry River. To identify critical source areas we surveyed 200 kilometres of riverbanks. Out of 75 landowners on whose land silt remediation measures were identified, 73 agreed to works being done. A significant number of farmers agreed to contribute to the work in-kind with time, machinery and materials. This contribution was valued at £40,000, in addition to the £100,000 silt remediation budget. An additional £20,000 was contributed by Inland Fisheries from NASCO funds. The £160,000 budget has delivered:
*20,000 meters of new or repaired stock-proof fencing resulting in 3,500 less cattle accessing the river now compared to summer 2014
*60 open livestock watering bays have been closed up and alternative watering supplied, using pasture pumps
*3,500 meters of bank revetments (soft and hard engineering) to prevent erosion
*4,000 meters of willow and alder planning along vulnerable river banks
Work has also begun on an Integrated Constructed Wetland to be used as a farm pollution control demonstration project.
Already, farmers living in the upper catchment have reported that the riverbed appears cleaner than in previous years. Suspended silt levels are still being monitored by University of Ulster and we await the results. Similarly, silt levels in the gravel are being reassessed this summer. However, it is reasonable to assume that a significant reduction in silt entering the river has been achieved when considering the scale of the silt remediation works described above.
This work is now enabling us to release captive-bred juvenile mussels back to the river. Some have already been released and are being monitored. Survival and growth rates suggest that mass-release would be successful. By releasing these mussels we have already changed the extinction curve for the Ballinderry population. An independent mussel expert, Dr Evelyn Moorkens, has been quoted as saying that ‘the input of as little as 10 surviving juvenile mussels a year has the net effect of maintaining the population eventually at current levels’; 240 have been released over the last two years we are about to release 330 to two sites on the river. These numbers will shift the date of total extinction of the population far beyond the prediction (2098) and continued releases will avoid extinction entirely.
The project has been well publicised in various newspapers and on the BBC’s Countryfile programme. It has also featured in the UK Journal for the Quarry industry and in scientific journals. We have been making presentations on the project to Government Departments, farmers groups and at conferences whilst networking with other projects such as the Pearls in Peril Project in Great Britain and the Donegal Interreg Freshwater Pearl Mussel Practical Measures Project and Kerry LIFE project in the Republic of Ireland. From contact made at these events, groups including university students, NGO’s and environmentalists have visited our conservation breeding centre and silt remediation sites, comparing the work sites with photographs taken before the works started.
The silt remediation works have obvious benefits to species other than the freshwater pearl mussel. More salmon and trout eggs hatch when gravels are free of silt. An increase in fish numbers provides otter, kingfisher, heron and other piscivorous species a better environment to raise their young.
During the project many thousands of willow and alder trees were planted to stabilise eroding banks. The landowners concerned have agreed to train the height and width of the trees. When established in 3-4 years the tree-lined riverbanks will slow the flow of flood water both in the tributaries and the main channel. Flood relief in the middle and lower stretches of the Ballinderry will be delivered as a consequence of this project.
Economic benefits will be another outcome since the loss of land along the tributaries and main channel has been stopped and in several fields the over widened channel has been brought back to its natural width, bringing some 1,000 square meters of land back into agricultural production.
The project will help our Government avoid having to pay infraction fines if it cannot meet its obligations under the Water Framework and Habitats Directives; this is therefore a National economic benefit.
Most of the total project budget of £444,000 will have been spent in the Ballinderry catchment, providing an immediate local economic benefit arising from the project.
Our Learning and Outreach Officer has involved 24 schools in the catchment, in the mussel project. Both University of Ulster and Queen’s University staff and students have advised on and actually delivered this project. A Queens’ PhD student will complete her research in 2015; research which would not have been possible without the project on the ground.
In addition, landowners, quarry owners and other business owners along with school teachers, students and volunteers have attended stakeholder meetings.
All of this engagement work has made the whole community more aware of how vulnerable and valuable the freshwater pearl mussel is.
River recreation and sports will also benefit from this project as a result of improved water quality, more fish for angling and greater biodiversity value as the Ballinderry River remains home to the freshwater pearl mussel.
K
The main channel mowing strategy leads to a division between a vegetated and an unvegetated zone in the stream profile. The vegetated area is observed to accrete, while the unvegetated area is observed to erode. Macroinvertebrate counts and water levels are still being monitored. +
The meander has started to get overgrown because of the high nutrient load in the water. The water authority has chosen not to intervene yet, as they expect that this a temporary situation to which the stream will eventually adjust. +
R
The monitoring show an increase of the habitats diversification especially in terms of flow velocity and depth. Regression for mineral substrates (clogging) in favor of more coarse mineral substrates (favorable for spawning) is observed. +