Project spotlight: the Thames Catchment Community Eels Project

Thames Rivers Trust has just finished leading The Thames Catchment Community Eels Project, a partnership with Action for the River Kennet (ARK), South East Rivers Trust (SERT) and Thames21 (T21); working closely with Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and Thames Estuary Partnership (TEP) to aid the long-term survival of the European eel.

The pilot project has highlighted there are more barriers in rivers than existing data sets show, which isn’t good news for the critically endangered European eel.

Through the project ObstacEELS was born, a citizen science initiative to identify barriers and assess ‘passability’ for eels, inputting data to the newly modified River Obstacles App, which was fed into TEP’s Fish Migration Roadmap. Trained volunteer teams walked the riverbanks on 5 target rivers.

Final data evidences a 52% underestimate on these 5 target rivers and a 61% underestimate on the 24 rivers surveyed within the project. Contact info@thamesriverstrust.org.uk to find out more, or download the project summary below.

Reminder: complete the Rivers Trust review survey. 

Each Trust's primary contact should have received a link to the Rivers Trust Review survey for 2021. If your Trust has not received a link, or requires additional support, please contact emily.cooper@theriverstrust.org

The Coal Authority is a small organisation of just over 260 people, with a big remit to manage the effects of past coal mining across the UK. They work as a public body, with the mission to "make a better future for people and the environment in mining areas.”

In this Lunch & Learn session, Peter will introduce the organisation and the work they do, specifically around mine water pollution. He will share examples of how they have worked in partnership with others in the past, but most importantly will introduce and explore opportunities to join up with the Rivers Trust movement.

Video: can open data and citizen science drive change?

In the first ODI (Open Data Institute) Canalside Chat of 2022, Michelle Walker, Technical Director at The Rivers Trust talked to Sir Nigel Shadbolt (Principal of Jesus College Oxford and Chairman and Co-Founder of the Open Data Institute) about how our movement is using citizen science and open data to hold the water industry to account.

Tuesday 28th April | 12 - 1pm

NatureBid is an environmental matchmaking platform, bringing together those who want to fund environmental restoration and enhancement with those who can deliver it. The platform has been running since 2018, developed through a collaboration between the Environment Agency and Sylva Foundation. In this session, the Sylva Foundation's Director of Operations Paul Orsi will tell us about the platform and the opportunities it presents for the Rivers Trust movement.

Paul joined the Sylva Foundation in 2013 from Blenheim Palace, where he managed the rural estate which included seven hundred hectares of woodland. He is a Chartered Forester, Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, and has an MSc in Land Management at Harper Adams University.

Paul's professional experience encompasses forestry, farming, conservation and rural enterprise. Through study and experience he is also a professional land manager who has worked closely with a variety of tenants and other businesses on the estate to provide multiple benefits from land-based businesses.

Lunch & Learn recording: PR and Media

Over the past two years we have seen how media coverage can enhance the reputation of the Rivers Trust movement, raising public awareness of the issues we're tackling and the work we're doing. In this Lunch & Learn, The Rivers Trust comms team will share tips and tricks for engaging the media, especially on little or no budget. We include:

• The fundamentals of writing press releases
• Planning ahead vs being reactive
• What makes a good story
• PR assets every organisation should have
• How we can work together across the movement to make the most of media coverage