History of the Eden Rivers Trust – Key events!

12th October 1996
The Trust was established. The original trustees were James Carr, Peter Ecroyd, John Garnett, Ian Gregg, Ivor Jones, Andrew Quinn.

1999
A settlement was reached providing compensation for the pollution to the Ploughlands Beck, which impacted a large section of the main river in 1993.  The recipients agreed to settle over £200,000 with the Eden Rivers Trust to help with the restoration of the river.

2001
“Restoring Eden” is developed, a catchment wide plan designed to deal with all the issues; habitat, land management, wetlands, barriers to access and the impact of these on tourism and the local rural economy.

 
A royal visit! HRH The Prince of Wales came to see some of the Trust’s work and presented the English Nature SSSI Award for ‘outstanding achievement in the management of the River Eden and its tributaries.’


2003
MacKay Consultants carried out an economic impact assessment study (funded by Rural Regeneration Cumbria) which assessed the value of angling and tourism from the River Eden to the community to be £1.75 million per annum and the likely benefits of Restoring Eden to be £3.3 million over the course of the project.

The Trust started two major survey programmes to prioritise the environmental problems in the Eden catchment and to help the Trust decide how to address them most effectively:
 
1) A rapid electro-fishing technique to give an overview of fish stocks in the catchment.  Fish are the best indicator of water quality and general health of the river.

2) An aerial survey of most of the catchment called the Rapid Assessment of River Environment (R.A.R.E.) to prioritise habitat restoration work. This work was carried out in conjunction with Durham University. 

2004
The Eden Rivers Trust was awarded £1Million from the Heritage Lottery Fund for Discover Eden; a three year programme of education and access projects throughout the Eden Valley. The Eden Rivers Trust is the principal delivery partner, supported by the East Cumbria Countryside Project.  Funding partners include English Nature, Environment Agency, Cumbria Waste Management Trust, Tullie House, and the Cumbria Water Vole Project.

2005
The biggest floods since 1885 caused devastation across the catchment. Following this the Environment Agency and United Utilities agreed to fund a Phd. research project, managed by the Trust and Durham University, over three years to look into the impacts of wetlands on high and low river flows.

2005
The Go Wild roving angler scheme was funded for two years by DEFRA. The objectives of this scheme were to encourage landowners and farmers to protect the River, increase access to the river for anglers, and to bring income to parts of the river where habitat improvement works have been carried out.

2006

The Freshwater Life exhibition opened at Tullie House, Carlisle. This is a permanent exhibition, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, which explores the diverse habitats and unique flora and fauna of the River Eden.

A new education aid, a mobile classroom, was bought!

Go Wild in Eden was improved with the addition of 18 new beats.

Planning began for an Eden Rivers Festival to take place each summer at Rickerby Park, Carlisle, with supporting events throughout the catchment.

2007

Fish Eden (www.fisheden.org.uk) , the angling website for the Eden Valley goes live.

The Trust website was relaunched with a new look.

Annual Reports and Accounts

Annual reports and accounts are available on request.

Newsletters

10 Year Celebration Newsletter December 2007