Projects; past, present and future

Past activities
Much of the Eden Rivers Trust’s early work focussed on habitat improvement schemes. English Nature helped to fund much of this work with money available to protect Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Projects included work to control erosion on the banks of the river, the introduction of appropriate water supplies for farms, fencing projects and tree management. Details can be found in our conservation projects.

Present activities
These are based on the Restoring Eden strategy, which has four key themes: 
1. Restoring habitats and encouraging farmers to adopt more environmentally friendly land management practices.
2. Protecting and restoring wetland habitats on lowland and moorland.
3. Education at all levels.
4. Providing more access for recreation and tourism and promotion of facilities to provide economic benefit to local communities.  

This work can be broadly divided in to three categories; research, conservation and education.  Some current projects include: 

Discover Eden: A Heritage Lottery funded project (2004-2007) which took the education work of the Trust to a wider audience by promoting access and increasing people’s awareness of the fragile river environment.  Individual projects included a mobile classroom, the Ullswater canoe trail, 14 walks around the Eden Valley and the Eden Rivers Festival in 2007. For more information visit www.discovereden.org.uk.

Fish Eden: Working with the Eden Owners Association we have created a Fish Eden website to provide a ‘one stop shop’ for angling holiday information in the Eden Valley.  

The R.A.R.E. project: An award winning project pioneered by the Eden Rivers Trust and Durham University to carry out a fast and cost effective assessment of the Eden catchment to pin point areas that need restoration and conservation work. Please visit the R.A.R.E page for more information. 

Future Plans

The Eden Rivers Trust have a number of future plans which include conservation work, access and education projects and events. These include:

Conservation work in five subcatchments of the Eden Valley; the Trust want to carry out targeted work on sites in the Eden Valley that are in desperate need of restoration and conservation. A targeted approach is needed to achieve catchment wide improvements. Please click here for more information on the subcatchments and why they have been chosen.