Journal Features
Martin answers the call of Avon
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| Martin with some of his team enhancing the river banks near Crane Bridge and, inset, Martin. DB2736P3 and DB3458P1 |
MARTIN Gilchrist has plenty of tales of the riverbank to tell - particularly if that riverbank sits alongside any stretch of the River Avon and its
tributaries.
Martin is project officer with Living River, a four-year Heritage Lottery-funded
project aimed at increasing awareness and appreciation of the Avon and its wildlife.
The project is intended as a partnership involving communities and organisations who live and work in the River Avon's catchment - extending from its
headwaters on the Wiltshire Downs to the sea in Christchurch and encompassing the five rivers which run into it at Salisbury and the smaller tributaries which contribute to it along the way.
"The River Avon is one of the biggest chalk rivers in Britain," says Martin.
"Chalk rivers are good for wildlife but, over the last 20 years or so, people have started to realise some of the reasons it's good for wildlife have been changing or disappearing."
A report, commissioned by English Nature (now part of Natural England), identified all the threats the river faced such as
over-engineering (widening or straightening) for flood relief or
agriculture, over-extraction, pollution and invasive plants such as Japanese knotweed and hogweed which clog the banks and beds.
But a key issue was a lack of public interest in the river.
Working with project manager Sarah Yarrow, who has been involved in community-based river restoration projects in her native New Zealand, Martin's remit is to engage and
interest people, giving them the opportunity to get involved.
"That might mean putting on a pair of waders and doing something
physically challenging, or it might mean them finding out something new or working in their local
community improving access to their patch of the river," he
explains.
Much of the river is privately owned, but Living River has identified 40
different locations across the area where there is public access and where it can do something extra to help.
So far - the project was launched in 2006 - it seems to have been a resounding success.
Whether it's replacing boardwalks or pathways, improving accessibility, clearing invasive plants, building otter holts, monitoring aquatic insect activity or restoring the riverbanks themselves, opportunities to dip their toes in the water have been welcomed by scores of people the length of the Avon.
This is one time where getting cold feet about a project is good news.
"Everyone loves splashing around in the river," Martin says with a grin.
Indeed, 245 volunteers enjoyed it so much they gave up 60 days of their time in the first year of the project.
They restored a 90m stretch of river bank in the city centre near Crane Street bridge, cleared infestations of Himalayan balsam from the Nadder, created 2.5km of walks at Blashford Lakes, and replaced 60m of boardwalk in the Avon Valley Nature Reserve allowing improved access for buggies and wheelchairs. Schools used it as an educational tool, a group of
youngsters working towards their Duke of Edinburgh's awards created an otter holt at Lord's Walk in Amesbury and Friends Provident used it as a staff team-building exercise.
While English Heritage has provided the bulk of the funding, Living River is also supported by
others including Salisbury District Council, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, Bournemouth and West Hants Water, Wiltshire Wildlife Trust, Hampshire County Council, Wessex Water and the Environment Agency.
Salisbury International Arts Festival has
supported a number of activities including three river-inspired sculpture projects when wood
sculptor Matthew Cutts helped the children of Sarum St Paul's School create a shoal of
creatures from materials found in the river, artist Olivia Keith sculpted the Wild Child of the Chalke for the entrance to Broad Chalke School and sculptor Charlotte Moreton turned a helicopter into a giant dragonfly with the help of apprentices at QinetiQ at Boscombe Down.
Hoodwink theatre company entertained visitors to the Queen Elizabeth Gardens during the festival with The River Is Revolting, a surreal comic piece involving marauding ducks, a giant hogweed
monster, and a swarm of dragonsflies created during workshops by schoolchildren in Downton and Salisbury.
The Festival continues its involvement this year with two more sculpture projects, one beside Salisbury Library and another at Elizabeth House in Exeter Street where Olivia Keith will be working with members of the Blue Skies Club creating a living sculpture in the garden.
The restoration work at Crane Street will be
finished off and the teams will move on to the Maltings.
"It makes it a better place for wildlife and it does two things for the river: it provides an edge of riverbank for plants that would have nowhere to grow otherwise and as you've taken a tiny bit of the bank, it speeds up the river flow in the
middle," Martin explains.
A faster river, he says, is healthy, full of oxygen and crystal clear but as soon as you slow it down it becomes like a pond and stagnates.
Most volunteers come along for the day rather than the total duration of each individual project.
Many of them had never volunteered for anything before.
"Rather than reinvent the wheel we try and help those organisations who are looking for
experiences for their clients," says Martin.
"We don't have the resources to do it all ourselves and it's like anything, you get a chance to create and contribute a little locally and people seem to enjoy it, it's a fun thing to do."
More information on the Living River project and how you can get involved can be found at www.livingriver.org.uk.
4:15pm Thursday 31st January 2008
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