As our new Wilder Landscapes Team is growing and evolving, so is our approach to working outside of our nature reserves, including our work on Suffolk's rivers. Our work on rivers has focussed mostly on water vole conservation in the past but we are now taking a broader approach to restoring river habitats and their floodplains, as well as connecting them to the wider landscape.
Suffolk Wildlife Trust aims to secure at least 30% of land and sea in nature’s recovery by 2030 and we see restoring our rivers and their floodplains as a key step toward this ambitious goal. Alice Wickman, our Wilder Rivers Advisor, leads this work and sits within our Wilder Landscapes Team.
Alice focuses on our river advisory work as well as developing and delivering collaborative restoration projects at scale. So far, we have been working with farmers and land managers across Suffolk, providing advice on reducing pollution/runoff, invasive species management, protected species, and how to improve and restore river habitats. We have been working with land managers to develop and deliver river and floodplain restoration projects and, in 2023, we aim to deliver 5 river restoration projects in the Gipping, Chad, and Glem catchments. Alice will also begin working and collaborating with other organisations and river-focused groups in Suffolk so that we can achieve the best possible outcomes for rivers in Suffolk.
All this work is increasingly important as the pressures on river habitats and wildlife continue to increase. The issue of poor water quality in rivers is regularly in the news, but there are many other ways river habitats continue to be degraded. We aim to work on ambitious projects that link rivers, their floodplains, and the wider environment, taking advantage of new funding sources when they become available. We also aim to also work collaboratively with a wide range of partner organisations to improve the quality of our riverine habitat for wildlife in Suffolk.
If you'd like to find out how to help Suffolk's rivers, to volunteer as a river warden or to take part in Community projects, contact us here.
