People throughout the riverscape are coming together to help the Western Rother.
The Rother Partnership has been established by core funding partners - South Downs National Park Authority (SDNPA), South Downs Trust (SDT), Southern Water, and Chichester District Council.
Bringing together organisations, landowners, farmers and local communities, this partnership will co-develop and deliver projects to allow the Western Rother riverscapes to flourish again.
The Partnership and the Rother Action Plan are coordinated by us, the Western Sussex Rivers Trust (WSRT).
Our long-term aim is to see the river Rother and its tributaries that flow across the South Downs landscape, become the beacon of good river health within a National Park. A flourishing river system, guided and championed by all. A coordinated, urgent and ambitious approach will be necessary if we are to achieve Good Ecological Status for every stretch of the catchment.
This will require dramatic improvements in reducing pollutants entering the water; the removal of many barriers that currently restrict the free movement of wildlife; and changes in land management, particularly along the river corridors.
We will need to address questions around what good looks like, and balance the requirements of food production, water quality, water quantity and improving soil health all whilst maintaining a rural economy. With wetter warmer winters and hotter drier summers, we’ll need to ensure the local landscape is even more resilient to an increasingly challenging climate.
As more stakeholders and landowners come on board and the local community becomes ever-more engaged in the state of the local rivers and streams, we will start to see these big changes that are much needed.
We're excited about the partnership projects being developed and the range of opportunities for riparian landowners to help restore and enhance the riverscapes, for example:
· Installing riparian buffers and sensitive ditch management
· Creation of wetlands, winter storage reservoirs and natural flood management
· Catchment-wide identification (using INNS Mapper) & removal of Himalayan Balsam
· Signing up for a 'smart' mink trap as part of the Water Life Recovery Trust Programme, coordinated locally by SDNPA
· Renewal of septic tanks
· Modification of barriers / structures, e.g. weirs, sluice gates, to improve passage of fish and other species
There will be many opportunities to involve the wider community in a range of practical tasks, awareness raising and citizen science initiatives, to help inform projects and grow awareness of the local Rother riverscapes
Please get in touch to find out more about how you can get involved.
