Project launch: Building Oxfordshire’s Freshwater Network
12th November 2021
Our new Green Recovery Challenge Fund project Building Oxfordshire’s Freshwater Network: Engaging People in Nature’s Recovery will build on new evidence highlighting the need to ‘protect the best freshwaters and build out’.
Freshwater Habitats Trust are excited to tell you about our new project, Building Oxfordshire’s Freshwater Network: Engaging People in Nature’s Recovery. Funded by the government’s Green Recovery Challenge Fund, this is the first project to put into practice Freshwater Habitats Trust’s new landscape-scale strategy for the protection of freshwater biodiversity — the Freshwater Network. Running from September 2021 to March 2023, we’ll be demonstrating this approach in Oxfordshire, one of the most important areas for freshwater wildlife in England.
The Building Oxfordshire’s Freshwater Network project will begin the work of joining up key freshwater habitats and species across the county. The network we’re building will be made up of high quality freshwater habitats connected physically across the county and via a network of partners, landowners and citizens.
The key components of the network the project will be focussing on are ponds, alkaline fens and floodplains. We’ll be creating new ponds and wetlands on the floodplain, such as at Farmoor Reservoir, restoring more alkaline fen, and putting more species-rich floodplain meadows back along the Thames.
As well as protecting freshwater habitats and species, we’re connecting local people directly with nature conservation. We’ll be harnessing the power of the community to directly tackle the decline of some of the region’s most endangered wetland plants, engaging local people to grow wetland plants at home before ‘releasing’ them into the wild in high quality habitats.
In a project of this scale we couldn’t succeed without the help of like-minded conservation and community groups, so we’re very pleased to be working in partnership with:
- The National Trust
- Oxford Botanic Garden
- People-in-Action
- River Thame Conservation Trust
- Thames Valley Wildflower Meadow Restoration Project
- Thames Water
To see what we’re up to and keep up to date with project events, follow the project on Instagram @Oxon_FreshwaterNetwork or follow us on Twitter @PondRiverStream and #OxonFreshwaterNetwork. If you’d like to be involved, please visit the project’s website or email David Morris.