Practical Conservation Days

Overview

The Forth Rivers Trust runs a number of projects throughout the Forth catchement, and some of these involve engaging people with practical river conservation techniques. This can range from anything such as using green bank protection to reduce or limit damaging bank erosion on rivers, improving riparian corridors through tree planting, fencing, and more.

Interventions undertaken depend on the health of the river and its surrounding habitats – for example, where excessive erosion is taking place, willow spilling might be suited to help protect the banks from further erosion and help bind soils back together. Brash banking can offer another way to limit the impact of water’s erosive forces, while providing good habitat for native and migratory fish.

Riparian tree planting is a technique which offers multiple benefits for rivers – from leaf litter input providing nutrients for freshwater wildlife, and trees providing a habitat corridor alongside the river to maturing trees shading rivers helping to keep them cool in the face of a warming climate. Of course, the right tree must be planted in the right place to provide maximum benefits – and each project we deliver is guided by careful preparation and baseline survey works to help determine the most suitable conservation techniques required.