The Allan Water project is a catchment based approach to nature restoration for the benefit of wildlife, rivers and communities.
Overview
Compliance
The Forth Rivers Trust is able to support stakeholders in the planning and delivery of projects, ranging from tree planting to river restoration to barrier easement.
The Trust can also advise on how to operate under the licences and regulations set out by the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA), including the application for Controlled Activity Regulations (CAR) licences. A CAR Licence is required when you wish to engage in an activity that requires prior authorisation from SEPA due to it posing a potential risk to the water environment.
Carrying out low-risk activities on or near to a watercourse require you to conform to SEPA’s General Binding Rules (GBRs), which provide statutory controls over low-risk activities. More information on CAR and GBRs can be found here. The Trust can advise directly on how to conform to specific GBRs, and help a stakeholder who is looking to contribute further to a nature-friendly landscape. This can be through means such as targeted grazing and planting throughout the farm. See the Farm Advice tab for more details.
Tree Planting
If you’re looking to carry out tree planting, the Trust is able to advise on placement and species choice based on the characteristics of the land and the surrounding area. There are also a number of methods of capitalising on/offsetting the costs of tree planting, the most significant being a Forestry Grant Scheme.
Forestry Grant Schemes can be used to fund planting ranging in the hundreds of hectares down to small-scale projects of 10ha. To note – as of Summer 2022, timber and fencing prices are still very high, so it’s more difficult to make a profit without planting a large-scale scheme.
As a result of the above, smaller scale funds and grants can be tapped into to fund tree planting, such as from local developers, wind farms, local authorities and NGOs such as the Tree Council. Our planting on the Danny Burn was funded by Network Rail, through the Tree Council.
The Trust is keen to see riparian areas (areas of land next to water courses) planted with trees to address some of the pressures our aquatic environment faces. Please get in touch for any more information.
River Restoration
River restoration techniques can be applied small scale, starting with basic willow spiling for bankside protection, right up to the input of large woody structures to improve the biodiversity of a river facing additional pressures.
Willow spiling is a relatively inexpensive and effective means of green bank protection, creating a living barrier to slow the flow of water and trap sediment. The Trust has delivered willow spiling projects on a variety of scales all across the catchment, such as on the Larig Restoration Project and the Nether Cambushinnie Bank Protection project. This process can be utilised as both a means of habitat restoration and as erosion control – if you’re experiencing erosion difficulties on your land, this could be an option for you.
Large woody structures have been implemented at 2 sites on the Forth catchment so far, such as on the Revive the Allan project and the Larig Restoration Project. This method is intensive both in labour and financially, however the improvements to biodiversity can be dramatic when implemented on the right stretch of river.
This is a service that we at the Trust offer, so if you have a site you feel may benefit from any of the above please don’t hesitate to contact us, and we can arrange a site visit to your land.
Peatland and Wetland Restoration
The Trust is also proficient in peatland and wetland restoration, with these and floodplain reconnection being one of our primary goals over the coming years on the Allan Water, planned and part-funded through the MERLIN project. These types of projects can be low cost, starting on the low end with log jams and ditch blocking, ranging to large scale ditch blocking and flow diversion channels. These can all be seen implemented throughout the Allan Water on the projects page.
Farm Advice and Advisory Visits
The Trust has a number of experienced staff, including those with experience in Agri-Environment Climate Schemes (AECS), who can advise on a number of different areas relating to your farm and possible opportunities present. This can start out as a simple chat and walk around the site, which can develop further based on the findings.
Funding
The Trust is able to support stakeholders to find funding streams appropriate for the kind of work they’re seeking to undertake. This can come from a range of sources, with biodiversity gain projects able to be funded under NatureScot’s Nature Restoration Fund. Certain other projects with maintenance considerations can be funded under Agri-Environment Climate Schemes (AECS). The Trust has access to certain funding that would allow us to offer some services free of charge, however for surveying and liaising which requires additional funds it’s best to get in touch for further details.
Project DeliveryÂ
The Forth Rivers Trust has a staff team with a wide variety of skills to cater to each project and its requirements. The Trust also works in partnership with its consultancy arm, Forth Consulting. Forth Consulting is able to offer pre-works surveying and guidance, as well as fish rescues, which are a vital procedure when working in or on the banks of a river.Â
Contact
If you have any areas of land you’d like a second opinion on in regards to any of the aforementioned restoration techniques, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
0131 445 1527
