Latest news with #riverrestoration
Yahoo
13-07-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Incredible transformation after grim 7.6 tonne find in Aussie river: 'Serious challenge'
An incredible transformation has taken place at a beloved Australian traveller region, after local community groups, recreational anglers, and government agencies worked together to clear a major waterway of mountains of decades-old debris. Over a few months in late 2024, the collaborative effort managed to free the Capertee River in the New South Wales Central Tablelands of illegally dumped items, including a whopping seven car and truck chassis, that had likely lain on the riverbed for decades. Announcing the impressive feat this week, the Central Tablelands Local Land Services said the feat is the latest endeavour in the area to support the recovery of native and endangered fish species and reconnect 24.8 kilometres of upstream river habitat. This will enable native fish to migrate, breed, and thrive in a healthier aquatic ecosystem, a NSW Local Land Services spokesperson told Yahoo News. "The most serious challenge was removing the car and truck components whole," the spokesperson said. "A five-tonne excavator made little progress, so a local who has heavy-duty cranes — from the Australian Train and Railway Services — was subcontracted. "While only one to two chassis were expected to be removed, there were multiples underneath, resulting in seven being removed to make the river navigable for fish. "After the removal, the bank of the river was reshaped to a more stable geomorphic form. All bare earth was covered with a biodegradable jute mat. Remaining timber was placed around the toe of the bank, and the slope was revegetated." Between August and October 2024, NSW Local Land Services led a major habitat restoration project along nearly 25 kilometres of the Capertee River, aimed at reconnecting the waterway and supporting the recovery of native fish species, including the endangered Blue Mountains Perch. The work involved a series of staged on-ground efforts — from arborist work and site preparation to the removal of dumped vehicle chassis and native planting. Dead eucalyptus branches were first cleared by the North East Wiradjuri Company in early September to ensure site safety, with the timber later reused to create in-stream habitat. Primary earthworks followed, along with the careful removal of car and truck chassis — a more complex job than expected, with seven vehicles eventually lifted from the riverbed by a subcontracted heavy crane operator. These abandoned vehicles had become significant barriers to fish passage. Calls for major change after 'devastating' find among bones 'Worst trash wave ever' hits beach renowned as Aussie favourite 10-tonne find on Aussie beach highlights devastating issue To manage environmental risks, Local Land Services implemented a detailed erosion and sediment control plan, including silt curtains and geofabric bunds, while also preparing for potential oil or fuel contamination, though no spills occurred. The site was stabilised and revegetated following the removal works, with bare earth covered in jute matting and leftover timber repurposed for bank reinforcement. Volunteers from Capertee Valley Landcare completed planting works in October to help restore the area's ecological function. Love Australia's weird and wonderful environment? 🐊🦘😳 Get our new newsletter showcasing the week's best stories.
The Guardian
10-07-2025
- Science
- The Guardian
‘It was filthy and it stank terribly': how Europe's dirtiest river was brought back to life
Strolling beside the Emscher, the Tyczkowskis say it is the stench that they remember most about the river's darker days. 'The whole thing was filthy and it stank terribly,' says the couple, a retired watchmaker and tax adviser in their 80s. Were they ever tempted to take a dip? 'No,' they laugh in disgust. 'There were other things swimming inside.' For more than a century, putrid fumes emanated from the 'sewer of the Ruhr', creating a pungent whiff that assaulted towns throughout Germany's industrial heartland. But today, the Emscher bears little resemblance to Europe's dirtiest river. Waters that used to be fouled by factory waste and human excrement have been free from effluent since 2021. The river system, the main part of which was once considered biologically dead, is witnessing an abundance of life return. Nature enthusiasts have spotted lapwings, kingfishers and demoiselles in the region, along with freshwater shrimp, caddis flies, and even beavers. In May, scientists reported that red-finned rudds from the Rhine had reestablished themselves. 'Overall, it is really a success story,' says Prof Daniel Hering, an aquatic ecologist at the University of Duisburg and expert on the river's ecology. 'In former times, it was a sewer. Now, it is a river.' The Emscher runs through the heart of Germany's densely populated Ruhr region, a rusty mess of cities that sprung up around coal mines and factories as the Industrial Revolution kicked off. In the 1800s, the rapidly growing population was plagued by waterborne diseases such as typhoid and cholera, which killed workers and stalled the economic boom. Alarmed by the hit to their profits, the Ruhr industrial barons sought to improve public health. They founded the Emschergenossenschaft, the first water management association in the country, together with local authorities. But its engineers were unable to build sewage canals underground – the result of coal mines that were making the land subside in unpredictable ways – and so they decided to dump the waste into the meandering Emscher, which they straightened and lined with concrete. It was not until the coal mining industry collapsed in the 1980s, stopping the subsidence, that politicians began to think about bringing the river back to life. 'My predecessors, who were engineers, at first asked: 'Why? It all works fine,'' says Uli Paetzel, the chair of the board of Emschergenossenschaft and fellow water management association Lippenverband. 'But there was also an increase in environmental awareness after the Chernobyl crisis and the die-off of seals in the North Sea, which really troubled the German population.' The Emschergenossenschaft set about cleaning up a river that served as a toilet for more than 2.5 million people. It built a central 51km (32-mile) sewage highway with an internal diameter of 2.8 metres (9.2ft) – 'you could drive through it with a car, that's how big it is,' says Paetzel – along with numerous pumping stations, four treatment plants and 436km of sewage channels. The €5.5bn (£4.7bn) project was mainly financed by the fees from industries and local communities, with about 20% coming from the EU and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Supported by low-interest loans from public banks and backed by local residents who were desperate to get rid of the summer stink, the mammoth restoration project went ahead with little difficulty. The project did not receive any legal challenges – a rarity in Germany, says Paetzel. 'The biggest hurdle was technical,' he says. 'Putting underground canals into a densely built-up region – with motorways, dense urban development, industrial facilities – and getting the land to do so, that was the biggest challenge.' But today, the Emscher is home to flourishing nature and provides a vibrant blue-green space for local residents and tourists in a rust belt region that has long struggled with poverty and unemployment. More than 130km of cycle paths run along its banks. Sign up to Down to Earth The planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essential after newsletter promotion The water is so clear that 'sometimes, from the bridge, you can even see down to the riverbed', says Volker, a retired lawyer, as he and his wife take a break from their bike ride to admire the view. 'We both find it so nice that it was restored.' Few rivers in Europe have seen a transformation as drastic as the Emscher's, but many of the continent's rivers and lakes are in desperate need of care. A report from the European Environment Agency in October found only 37% of surface-water bodies have a 'good' or 'high' ecological status, while just 29% have a good chemical status – figures that 'hardly changed' between 2015 and 2021. Enthusiasm for river restoration projects has grown as governments have come under increasing pressure to protect nature and ideas such as 'rewilding' have entered the mainstream. The EU has committed to restoring 25,000km of river to a free-flowing state by 2030. In the case of the Emscher, however, the extreme levels of soil settlement in the region mean the river has not been returned to its historical route. 'Restoring the Emscher to its former state is a task that cannot be done,' says Monika Raschke, a water expert at the non-profit German Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation (Bund) – though the cleanup has brought back plants, insects, fish and birds. 'It's not the absolute ecological highlight that we might have elsewhere, but of course it's a huge improvement.' Hering says the river still has a way to go. Smaller streams are home to vibrant life – the tributaries were never as degraded as the main waterway was – but the Emscher itself may need another decade before stable communities are established. 'With the tributaries, we have a pretty good idea of how reestablishment happens,' he says. 'With the main River Emscher, which has been sewage-free for three years, we are only at the beginning of this process.' Still, Hering adds, there are already lessons that can be learned from the project's success: that nature can recover, even when starting from scratch; that large projects can be successful if they are embedded into society; and that wildlife needs several years before stable communities can be reestablished. 'It takes time,' he says. 'But immediately after restoration, of course, you'll see the first signs of success.'
The Independent
05-07-2025
- General
- The Independent
This animal could be the key to drought prevention
The National Trust 's Holnicote estate in Somerset has maintained lush vegetation and thriving wetlands despite a very dry spring, thanks to extensive river restoration work including introducing beavers. The 'Riverlands' project, launched in 2020, involved restoring the River Aller to its natural 'stage zero' state and reintroducing beavers into enclosures. This approach has created a new natural landscape with channels, pools, and marshes that slow water flow, hold water to combat drought and flooding, and reduce pollution. The project demonstrates how natural solutions, including beaver reintroduction, can build landscape resilience against extreme weather and provide benefits like healthier grazing. The National Trust is now seeking permission for licensed wild beaver releases on the estate, aiming for the animals to integrate with and manage the restored river landscape.
Yahoo
04-07-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Beavers and river restoration boost resilience to drought, conservationists say
Restoring rivers to a natural state and introducing beavers can help make landscapes resilient to the increasing risk of drought, conservationists said. The UK is facing increasing extremes such as drought and heavy downpours as the climate changes, with England weathering the driest spring for 132 years this year and two regions in the north of the country already in drought. But in the South West of England, after the region saw around half the average rainfall in spring, river restoration work maintained lush vegetation and wetlands at the National Trust's Holnicote estate on Exmoor, Somerset. The National Trust embarked on its 'riverlands' project on the estate in 2020, releasing beavers into two enclosures and working to restore the River Aller to a 'stage zero' state with multiple channels, pools and shallow riffles as it would have had before human interference. The approach has been pioneered in Oregon in the US, and the UK's first attempt at scale on a main river landscape involved diggers moving more than 4,000 tonnes of earth to fill the river channel and laying hundreds of logs within the floodplain. Thousands of wetland trees were planted and wildflower seeds sown to attract pollinators. The project to give the river space and connect to its floodplain, completed just two years ago, has created a new natural landscape from once neat agricultural fields, with channels, pools, wetlands and marshes. The wetlands are rich in plants, the young trees are starting to grow and meadows in the floodplain are full of wildflowers. The landscape – along with the nearby beaver wet woodland – slows down the flow of water and holds it in the landscape to reduce flooding and counteract drought, as well as reducing pollution and loss of sediment, the Trust said. The wetlands that have been created are habitat for water voles, as well as an array of birds, insects and fish including eels. Ben Eardley, senior project manager for the National Trust in Somerset, said curbing flooding was a big part of the reason for the project, with communities downstream at Allerford and Bossington suffering from floods in the past. 'But then increasingly, you can see the impacts of hotter dry weather which I think are equally important in addressing,' he said. While some restoration schemes only improve the river channel itself, the work at Holnicote makes the wider landscape more resilient, he suggested. Even after the dry spring, the beaver enclosures, where the animals have created pools, dams and woodland clearings, were still 'brim full' of water, while the restored river catchment stays wet year-round, Mr Eardley said. The denser vegetation acts like a blanket on the soil, holding moisture in and keeping the soil temperature more consistent, he added. 'It's a combination of different things that lead to more resilience. 'And it's not saying that you have to have all of those things everywhere, but if you've got more diverse landscape with a greater mosaic of different habitats. then just by default, you'll have greater resilience,' he said. Farmers and landowners are among those who visit the 'exemplar' river restoration project, which comes amid intense debate over competing uses of land in the UK – for food security, energy production, climate action and to help restore nature and natural processes that can benefit people. Mr Eardley argues that it does not have to be a binary choice between beavers or river restoration and agriculture, but land could be managed to provide both, with benefits for landscapes which are suffering more extreme weather throughout the year as the climate changes. 'You might need to sacrifice some small areas for beaver habitat or whatever. 'But then in that wider landscape you're going to have better, lusher grazing for longer, during those summer months, whereas before, everything would have burnt off,' he said. 'Because you've got higher groundwater levels, your soil and your vegetation are healthier.' Stewart Clarke, senior national freshwater consultant at the National Trust said: 'Water is at the forefront of climate change impacts including flooding and drought, and after a very dry first six months of the year and with many UK regions either in or on the cusp of being in drought conditions, looking after the lifeblood of our landscapes is absolutely vital.' He said that giving rivers more space could create 'nature-rich corridors' through towns and countryside, store water during floods and droughts and give rivers space to adapt to changing flows. The riverlands project is one of a number of schemes the trust had undertaken to 'future proof' rivers, he said, adding: 'The new stage 0 wetland, and the beaver wetlands which it resembles, have created important stores of water and carbon to help in the fight against climate change. 'Over the coming years we aim to create and restore hundreds of such wetlands both for these benefits to people and for the rich wildlife they can support.' And while the Holnicote beavers are currently in enclosures – though prone to escaping – following the Government's recent decision to allow licensed beaver releases into the wild in England, the National Trust is applying to be able to have wild beavers on the estate. Then the beavers could link up with the stage 0 river landscape, and ultimately take over its management in their role as ecosystem engineers.
The Independent
04-07-2025
- Climate
- The Independent
Beavers and river restoration boost resilience to drought, conservationists say
Restoring rivers to a natural state and introducing beavers can help make landscapes resilient to the increasing risk of drought, conservationists said. The UK is facing increasing extremes such as drought and heavy downpours as the climate changes, with England weathering the driest spring for 132 years this year and two regions in the north of the country already in drought. But in the South West of England, after the region saw around half the average rainfall in spring, river restoration work maintained lush vegetation and wetlands at the National Trust's Holnicote estate on Exmoor, Somerset. The National Trust embarked on its 'riverlands' project on the estate in 2020, releasing beavers into two enclosures and working to restore the River Aller to a 'stage zero' state with multiple channels, pools and shallow riffles as it would have had before human interference. The approach has been pioneered in Oregon in the US, and the UK's first attempt at scale on a main river landscape involved diggers moving more than 4,000 tonnes of earth to fill the river channel and laying hundreds of logs within the floodplain. Thousands of wetland trees were planted and wildflower seeds sown to attract pollinators. The project to give the river space and connect to its floodplain, completed just two years ago, has created a new natural landscape from once neat agricultural fields, with channels, pools, wetlands and marshes. The wetlands are rich in plants, the young trees are starting to grow and meadows in the floodplain are full of wildflowers. The landscape – along with the nearby beaver wet woodland – slows down the flow of water and holds it in the landscape to reduce flooding and counteract drought, as well as reducing pollution and loss of sediment, the Trust said. The wetlands that have been created are habitat for water voles, as well as an array of birds, insects and fish including eels. Ben Eardley, senior project manager for the National Trust in Somerset, said curbing flooding was a big part of the reason for the project, with communities downstream at Allerford and Bossington suffering from floods in the past. 'But then increasingly, you can see the impacts of hotter dry weather which I think are equally important in addressing,' he said. While some restoration schemes only improve the river channel itself, the work at Holnicote makes the wider landscape more resilient, he suggested. Even after the dry spring, the beaver enclosures, where the animals have created pools, dams and woodland clearings, were still 'brim full' of water, while the restored river catchment stays wet year-round, Mr Eardley said. The denser vegetation acts like a blanket on the soil, holding moisture in and keeping the soil temperature more consistent, he added. 'It's a combination of different things that lead to more resilience. 'And it's not saying that you have to have all of those things everywhere, but if you've got more diverse landscape with a greater mosaic of different habitats. then just by default, you'll have greater resilience,' he said. Farmers and landowners are among those who visit the 'exemplar' river restoration project, which comes amid intense debate over competing uses of land in the UK – for food security, energy production, climate action and to help restore nature and natural processes that can benefit people. Mr Eardley argues that it does not have to be a binary choice between beavers or river restoration and agriculture, but land could be managed to provide both, with benefits for landscapes which are suffering more extreme weather throughout the year as the climate changes. 'You might need to sacrifice some small areas for beaver habitat or whatever. 'But then in that wider landscape you're going to have better, lusher grazing for longer, during those summer months, whereas before, everything would have burnt off,' he said. 'Because you've got higher groundwater levels, your soil and your vegetation are healthier.' Stewart Clarke, senior national freshwater consultant at the National Trust said: 'Water is at the forefront of climate change impacts including flooding and drought, and after a very dry first six months of the year and with many UK regions either in or on the cusp of being in drought conditions, looking after the lifeblood of our landscapes is absolutely vital.' He said that giving rivers more space could create 'nature-rich corridors' through towns and countryside, store water during floods and droughts and give rivers space to adapt to changing flows. The riverlands project is one of a number of schemes the trust had undertaken to 'future proof' rivers, he said, adding: 'The new stage 0 wetland, and the beaver wetlands which it resembles, have created important stores of water and carbon to help in the fight against climate change. 'Over the coming years we aim to create and restore hundreds of such wetlands both for these benefits to people and for the rich wildlife they can support.' And while the Holnicote beavers are currently in enclosures – though prone to escaping – following the Government's recent decision to allow licensed beaver releases into the wild in England, the National Trust is applying to be able to have wild beavers on the estate. Then the beavers could link up with the stage 0 river landscape, and ultimately take over its management in their role as ecosystem engineers.
