A five year initiative aims to restore the upper catchment area of the River Wye, benefitting wildlife and improving water quality.
They want to help certain animals, including salmon and otters. Shad, crayfish, and water crowfoot need help too. The habitat improvement benefits them all.
They aim to reduce river pollution and sediment. This makes the river stronger, so it can handle tough weather and the climate crisis won’t hurt as much.
This plan lasts five years. They are restoring riverbanks and using buffer strips to slow water runoff, which is important during heavy rain.
The Welsh Government supports the project, which started last year. Huw Irranca-Davies spoke about it, expressing his desire to improve rivers in Wales.
He said the Wye will get better. This work protects wildlife and makes the river resilient, as climate change poses a threat and extreme weather can be damaging.
The project slows water flow using wood from Tarenig Forest. They put it in streams and ditches to trap sediment before it enters the river.
This creates vegetation corridors that grow along the river and makes new wetlands near the SSSI, that is, the Tarenig Site of Special Scientific Interest.
Susie Tudge leads the project team and welcomed the deputy first minister. He saw the community projects firsthand, which restore habitat and improve water quality.
This intervention is one of the first, and they will use it as an example. Other forest managers can see it work.
Natural Resources Wales is involved and works with people in the area, including landowners and groups. They give farmers land management advice, use natural materials to improve wildlife homes, and remove harmful, non-native plants.