The work that we do always has a ‘people’ as well as a ‘trout and wildlife’ focus.
See below for an interesting little film from our chums at Aire Rivers Trust.
The site in question, a mill goit fed by a former weir across the Aire, essentially created an island upstream of the Seven-Arches Bridge at Hirst Wood.
Jonny Grey from WTT was asked to visit by local EA Fisheries to advise on reinstating habitat within the goit for spawning and winter flow refuge.
The site suffered from its popularity – people were creating Heath Robinson stepping stones to access the island and had caused the goit to fill with sediment. Slightly counterintuitive to some, Jonny proposed reinstating two bridges to prevent use of stepping-stones and divert desire lines away from the goit edge. Habitat improvements are being carried out with Saltaire AC using funding from TROUT supported by Yorkshire Water. Aire RT ‘matched’ this by securing the funding for the construction of the bridges.
Win:win!