The New Forest Catchment Partnership is a Catchment Based Approach (CaBA) group, hosted by the New Forest National Park Authority and Freshwater Habitats Trust. We’re working alongside organisations, communities and stakeholders to protect, manage and enhance these habitats and the species they support.

About the New Forest catchment

The New Forest catchment covers more than 300 square kilometers of protected landscape, forestry, farmland, parkland and urban environments.

It includes around a dozen individual rivers, streams and their tributaries flowing south and east to The Solent and Southampton Water; two notable lakes (greater than 2ha in size); many hundreds of ponds (less than 2ha in size), and a continuous band of coastal and estuarine habitats.

Here are some of the best freshwater habitats – not just in the UK, but in the world.

New Forest wetland on a wintery day with blue sky

Protecting the best habitats for freshwater wildlife

The Open Forest was historically the domain of the New Forest Commoners, with ancient ‘Forest Rights’. Here, the varied nature and exceptionally high quality of the headwater streams and ponds is reflected in the number of species they support and their importance for nature conservation.

Conserving these habitats brings about its own set of challenges, but also huge opportunities for delivering real biodiversity gains which cannot be achieved elsewhere in a heavily modified and intensively managed lowland England.

Plants growing in shallow water.

- Pillwort in the New Forest.

The overarching aims of the New Forest Catchment project

1 Protect the best

Raising awareness of the special nature of the New Forest’s freshwater and coastal habitats and the need for sustainable strategies to mitigate stressors on these environments now and in the future.

2 Build out

Supporting local communities and businesses to reduce the number and frequency of direct and diffuse sources of nutrient pollution in the catchment. This means mitigating the impact of historic interventions, which have caused freshwaters to become disconnected along their length and disconnected from coastal and floodplain habitats.

3 Work in partnership

Bring together stakeholders to agree a plan of action for freshwater and coastal habitats and species, making best use of limited resources and using the collective experience and expertise of individuals and organisations working in and around the New Forest.

New Forest Catchment Partnership projects

Discover more about the practical work we’re carrying out through the New Forest Catchment Partnership.

Two horses by a waterbody, one drinking.
Wilder for Water

We’re raising awareness of the special qualities of the New Forest waterscape and promoting a best practice ‘clean water standard’ for camping and recreation.

Find out more
New Forest wetland on a wintery day with blue sky
Blue Horizons

This project is improving the running and standing water network in the New Forest – an internationally significant landscape for freshwater biodiversity.

Blue Horizons
The New Forest.
Freshwater Network

We’re building a wilder, wetter, cleaner, more connected network of freshwater habitats across the country.

Find out more

New Forest Catchment Development Group

The New Forest Catchment Partnership is coordinated by the New Forest National Park Authority and Freshwater Habitats Trust. We work alongside other organisations and communities to protect and improve the special freshwater habitats of the New Forest.

The New Forest Catchment Partnership came into being in 2012 as one of the pilot catchments for the new Catchment Based Approach (CaBA).  The CaBA principle embeds collaborative working at a river catchment scale to deliver cross-cutting improvements to our water environments. This is especially true in the New Forest, where streams, rivers, ponds, and lakes, both within and outside protected areas, create a landscape of some of the most important fresh waters in the UK.

The New Forest Catchment Partnership forms an umbrella over the statutory agencies, non-government organisations, research groups, charities and local interest groups, each with multiple projects, which individually build towards a better freshwater environment.

New Forest National Park Authority logo
Natural England logo
National Trust logo
Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust logo
Friends of the New Forest logo
Beaulieu logo
The Solent Forum logo

The New Forest Catchment Partnership team

The New Forest Catchment Partnership works with many organisations and individuals. Here are some of our team members.

Dr Naomi Ewald - Photo

Dr Naomi Ewald

Technical Director, Freshwater Habitats Trust

Thea Margetts - Photo

Thea Margetts

Project Officer, Freshwater Habitats Trust

Angela Peters - Photo

Angela Peters

Project Officer, Freshwater Habitats Trust

Gemma Stride - Photo

Gemma Stride

Area Lead - New Forest, Freshwater Habitats Trust

Ian Barker - Photo

Ian Barker

Ecologist, New Forest National Park Authority