The jewel in the crown of Hertfordshire’s freshwater network, is one of the rarest environments on the planet.

Chalk rivers are a unique kind of river system that support some of our most iconic yet threatened wildlife, such as wild brown trout and water voles. There are less than 250 in the entire world and we are lucky to find around 10% in Hertfordshire. Think of Kenneth Grahame’s Wind and the Willows and your imagination will place you beside a beautiful chalk river on a summer’s day. In good condition our chalk rivers can appear ethereal; with gentle banks sloping down to a verdant river edge, glass-clear water babbling over gravels as the river travels along its meandering course, visited by the striking kingfisher, suspended mayfly and
sail-finned grayling swaying in the currents.

Sadly, rivers and the wetlands they support are scarce and under threat. Combined, they cover a mere 1% of total county area – even less than the national average of 3% - and they are far from being in good ecological condition. Over 55% of our rivers are classed as moderate condition and 45% are poor, meaning they have lower numbers and diversity of invertebrates, fish and plants than they ought to, as well as being affected by chemical pollution, physical modification and unnatural flow patterns.

A combination of land-use changes (including development and intensive farming), pollution, over-abstraction and historic industry such as milling, all linked to a growing population has clearly taken its toll on Hertfordshire’s rivers. In short, we have a very limited supply of freshwater habitats left in Hertfordshire and Middlesex and what does exist is not in very good condition.

We need our rare and special chalk streams, navigable rivers, braided brooks, pockets of fen, open water and wet woodland habitat to be brought back into tip-top condition. We need to expand these habitats to make them better connected, so that they are resilient in the face of climate change and can recover from environmental shock, as well as continuing to provide a safe-haven for wildlife migration into the future.

In 2012 the Living Rivers project was born to help reverse the fortunes of these environments. The Trust, in partnership with the Environment Agency, began to champion chalk rivers with the aim of raising awareness of their sensitive nature and supporting local action to restore them. Our Living Rivers project launched at the same time that a new, national approach to improving rivers was being rolled out by the Department of Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) as an attempt to halt declines and meet targets in European law known as the Water Framework Directive (2009). This new catchment-based approach offered support to local organisations in developing their own plans for improving rivers in their area and encourage partnership working for water across the country.

Since then, the Trust has been delivering the Living Rivers project and acting as host of the River Lea Catchment Partnership bringing together and supporting others to restore local rivers. A decade of the Living Rivers project has resulted many successes for rivers through our work across four themes:

A partnership approach

We bring together individuals, river groups, local authorities, businesses, landowners, NGOs and statutory organisations to explore ways of improving our river catchments. We have grown the River Lea Catchment Partnership from zero to 350+ contacts since we started hosting in 2012 and lead over 10 workshops a year to plan and push forward action for rivers, such as invasive species control, habitat creation projects or monitoring and surveying activities to keep an eye on the health of our rivers and flag issues to resolve together.

On the ground action

We deliver surveying, advice and restoration activities on private land in the countryside, towns and villages across Hertfordshire and Middlesex, as well as on our own Nature Reserves. We are working along 10 chalk rivers, delivering restoration projects to improve habitat condition for wildlife. Over 150km of river corridor and 200 hectares of wetland have benefitted from our advice or practical conservation assistance in the last decade and we have driven investment into freshwater projects upwards of £1.5m (including more to come this year!).

Working with the community

We raise awareness of chalk rivers, the threats they face and teach people how best to care for them. In 2012 chalk rivers were largely unheard of but voices across the conservation movement rallied together to raise their profile leading to more people taking action locally. We have taught over 500 pupils from 13 schools about chalk rivers and their wildlife, trained over 200 volunteers in river monitoring and restoration skills, and delivered river-engagement activities to around 5,000 people.

A wilder influence in Hertfordshire

We consult with water industry regulators, regional planning groups and local authorities to promote best practice freshwater habitat management and water resources planning for our area. The Wildlife Trust nationally are a key member of Blueprint for Water – a coalition of 24 organisations working to develop solutions to water issues facing England. At a local level, we sit on an advisory group developing a regional plan for water resilience led by Water Resource South East, as well as providing ecological input to Local Authority plans and projects related to water.

Looking ahead to the next decade of Living Rivers, expect to see some action on rivers near you! If you’re out for a stroll on the River Rib, Ash, Lea or Stort this year, keep an eye out for “water spiders”; not the enigmatic raft-spiders that live in our fens, but the robotic kind which operate our river restoration projects. Between 2023-2025, we will be investing about £500,000 of grant funding into Hertfordshire’ chalk rivers, working in partnership to: remove a weir that acts as a barrier to fish migration on the lower Rib; create a nature recovery network along 2km of the River Lea, enhancing and better connecting our two Nature Reserves at Lemsford Springs and Stanborough Reedmarsh; improving water vole and wild brown trout habitat on the River Ash as part of a 7km river restoration project; working with natural river processes to protect a Local Wildlife Site on the River Stort; tackling invasive-non native plants along the River Stort; delivering an urban chalk river restoration scheme with Buntingford Town Council; supporting an angling club with delivering their river restoration plan; plus leading five community river restoration projects on the Rivers Quin, Mimram, Hiz, Beane and Birchanger Brook, to train local volunteers in practical river management.

If you own a section of river or wetland habitat like a reed bed, lake or wet woodland and would like some advice contact Sarah Perry, our River Catchment Coordinator Sarah.Perry@hmwt.org

If you are a group or individual and would like to help with our surveying and improvement work please fill out an enquiry form online.