Case study:River of Life
Project overview
| 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 |
Project summary
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
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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Catchment and subcatchmentSelect a catchment/subcatchment
Catchment
Subcatchment
Site
Project background
Cost for project phases
Supplementary funding informationThis project has been jointly funded and delivered by the Environment Agency and the Earth Trust.
Reasons for river restoration
Measures
MonitoringHydromorphological quality elements
Biological quality elements
Physico-chemical quality elements
Any other monitoring, e.g. social, economic
Monitoring documents
Additional documents and videos
Additional links and references
Supplementary InformationEdit Supplementary Information
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