FORTH RIVERS TRUST HOST VISITS FROM UNIVERSITY OF JYVASKYLA, FINLAND ON THE ALLAN WATER

Forth Rivers Trust recently hosted a group of researchers from Finland on the Allan Water Project. 

Niall Provan and Sandra Stewart of Forth Rivers Trust recently hosted Phill Watts and his colleagues Tapio Mappes and Ilze Brile of the University of Jyvaskyla, Finland.  The team spent two days visiting several sites on the Allan Water Catchment where the Trust have been undertaking Natural Flood Management (NFM). 

NFM on the Allan Water has been partly funded by Scottish Government and also through the EU MERLIN project. 

The Finnish researchers are working on another EU-funded project (BEPREP) monitoring rewilding efforts to see if they affect transmission of disease (together with altered biodiversity).  They are using Merlin sites across Europe for their research. 

Phillip explained that this initial visit was to understand the size and type of habitat Forth Rivers Trust have been working on to plan their sampling methods for returning in late Spring to carry out the research. The aim of the study is to get access to sites that have restoration and also control sites.

This is an excellent example of the collaborative work Forth Rivers Trust has been undertaking with its Merlin partner CEH (UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology) and wider partners from University of Jyvaskyla, Finland.