Last week I had the privilege of attending and speaking at the Exploring Our Rivers: Scottish Rivers Network Day, held in Grangemouth Town Hall. The Network Day is an event run by the Communities Along the Carron Association (CATCA) who are actively involved in community engagement and river management on the River Carron. There was a number of stalls present in the town hall representing a wide range of organisations that have an interest in river management including Angling Associations, Forth Fishery Board, RSPB and the Marine Conservation Society. My supervisor and I, Charlie Perfect of the Centre for River EcoSystem Science (CRESS), had a stall promoting and giving away copies of the Scottish Rivers Handbook. The Scottish Rivers Handbook as the James Hutton Institute describes “aims to educate people on working with river processes and natural forms in a sympathetic manner through explaining their natural forms, functions and benefits to society”. Therefore the Exploring Our Rivers Networking day event was an ideal venue to promote the handbook.
Charlie Perfect on the far left, engaging with an attendee about the handbook
As the day progressed I gave a talk to an audience of around 30 about my experiences of Natural Flood Management on the Allan Water. It was a great experience with many of the attendees very interested in NFM and the engagement process with communities and landlords. There was also some very interesting questions at the end related to both engagement and how NFM measures work. So it was a great opportunity to explain how NFM is a positive sustainable approach to flood management with multiple benefits to the ecosystem including biodiversity, natural landscapes and recreational area improvements. I also made a lot of valuable contacts through people’s interest in my talk, and when speaking to representatives of different organisations around the stalls. Below are some photographs of me during my talk.
Changing slides during my talk
Presenting how NFM works
I attended other talks throughout the day including Managing Invasive Non-Native Species along Riparian Corridors by the River Forth Fishery Trust and Return of the Salmon to the Clyde by the River Clyde Fisheries Management Trust. Both were great talks that provided opportunities to learn about issues and ask questions about other areas of river management. Therefore overall it was a fantastic day, and a great opportunity to meet and speak with other people involved in river management. All photographs are courtesy of CATCA.