Our work for rivers and wetlands

Our work for rivers and wetlands

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We have made rivers a priority for the next decade with a target of restoring 100km of river by 2030.

Working with planners, developers and farmers we are planning to carry out river restoration projects, reintroduce new species to improve water management, carry out natural flood management work to reduce flooding and ensure our wetlands are sensitively managed for the benefit of the plants and animals they hold and people who depend upon them.

Rivers are motorways for wildlife, providing corridors down which species can travel between habitats. Cheshire waterways support many species of fish, including brown trout, eel, stickleback, pike, grayling, roach, perch and salmon. Charismatic otters patrol the riverbanks at night, water voles plop into the water from their burrows, and metallic kingfishers skim the water’s surface.

As well as supporting a variety of wildlife, wetlands also have an economic value – not only to the thousands of people who live on their edge, but also to communities living miles away. They are important sources for food, fresh water and building materials, and also provide valuable services such as water purification, flood defence and erosion control.

For centuries people have had a relationship with the water. It has been used to navigate through town and country, provide power, irrigate the land for agriculture and as inspiration for art and literature. And yet, these habitats have been in serious decline – waters have been polluted with chemicals, bank habitats stripped and modified, dams built and wetland wildlife has been lost.

Find out more about our work delivering Living Rivers and Wetlands

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