It’s been a while since I posted news of my placement, so I guess this is an all-purpose catch-up entry and overview of the past few months – and as the calendar year draws to a close, it feels a fitting time for it.
Ever since I started my placement with the Clyde River Foundation (CRF), my work has been extremely varied. The CRF undertakes both science and education right across the Clyde catchment and I have been getting involved in both of these areas: participating in the CRF’s established programme of field survey work as well as helping out with the delivery and development of education projects, such as Kids and the Kelvin and Clyde in the Classroom. This has been hard work and very rewarding – I have learnt a lot: from aspects of fish biology, riparian ecology and river restoration to the very important skills needed to communicate that to primary school age pupils on a grand scale.
Breadth of experience
I could write at length and detail about any of the afore-mentioned things, but for me the most important aspect is the breadth of experience, only made possible by the very welcoming and egalitarian nature of the team at the Clyde River Foundation. They have given me an intensive exposure to the world of fisheries science, catchment management and strategic river conservation and education which has helped me to understand in the broadest sense what a river fishery trust actually does. And it is this understanding which has now started to enable me to develop the ‘communities’ aspect of my placement. As well as becoming very involved in the work of the CRF, I have been supported by BTCV Scotland to develop my understanding of community engagement and the skills needed to facilitate genuinely community-driven action.
One of the main reasons that the Clyde River Foundation was keen to host a BTCV Scotland Natural Communities traineeship to begin with, was that it recognised a growing need to engage further with the many people who live in the river catchment. This is no small task. The CRF works in the most populous river and fishery trust area in Scotland. Well over one million people live in the River Clyde catchment; some near the remoter rural headwaters of South Lanarkshire, but most beside its highly-urbanised and industrialised estuarine mouth.
Collective knowledge
The work of the CRF is relevant throughout this area and as the charity goes about its work, it meets collectively more and more people from around the catchment. Through scientific survey and far-ranging education outreach, the CRF team has met anglers, businesses, farmers, school teachers, kayakers, fellow scientists, community groups, council workers, students from all corners of the Clyde.
Some of these relationships are intensive (the CRF works with many of the same school teachers year on year); and many are frequent (such as clocking in with landowners to request access to particular stretches of river). Each time the CRF meets someone new, we often find ourselves describing and discussing the work and purpose our organisation.
People like to know about their local rivers – and certainly if someone is keen to learn more about the health of the Clyde freshwater fishery, the CRF is in a position to help. Previously, simple conversational contact would have been sufficient, but increasingly the CRF has recognised the importance of developing its communication channels – and there is now an obvious one-stop shop where people go every type of information.
So one of the major things I’ve helped with is the rebuilding of the Clyde River Foundation website. The old site had basic information about the Foundation, but the new website helps to explain in more depth what it is the Foundation does and why it is important. We have developed a Google map of our electrofishing sites, as well as providing more detailed information about the Clyde catchment in general. Our aim in the mid-term is to essentially present much of the River Clyde Fishery Management Plan in an easier-to-navigate way. So instead of visitors to the website being confronted by a 90 page document to download, they can click through to the areas of our work which are of most relevance or interest to them or their organisation or community. We hope to help inform where we can and signpost people when necessary.
Why websites are important
From a ‘community engagement’ perspective, this online profile is crucial. Whenever a member of the team is out and about (be it electrofishing, attending a public meeting or visiting a school), it is increasingly important that we can reference the website so that the person we have spoken to can research more about the work of the organisation in his or her time. Younger people especially are likely to follow up a meeting with online research.
It is a valuable way to maintain contact with the many people we meet and provides another platform to help carry out our work. www.clyderiverfoundation.org has not been launched formally yet, so there there are still a few ‘development’ pages and areas which for which we have yet to solicit wider contributions. But I’ve found the development of the website to be very satisfying and hopefully a useful tool in developing a more networked approach to our local work on the Clyde.
More about that in 2012…..