The South East Rivers Trust launches crowdfunder to raise £3,000 to restore the River Medway

ASHFORD, U.K. - Sept. 24, 2024 - PRLog -- The £3,000 raised through Crowdfunder will be used to train volunteers and supply equipment, empowering local citizens to protect their rivers. Volunteer teams will be trained by riverfly experts in identifying riverflies and submitting results. The set up costs for the Beult riverfly monitoring programme is £3,000 which covers the cost of the riverfly trainer, life jackets, waders and riverfly kits. Kent Wildlife Trust will manage the volunteer programme following initial training and equipment supplied by The South East Rivers Trust via the Crowdfunder.co.uk funding.

Riverflies are invertebrates that spend most of their life cycle in a river, stream, pond, or lake. Along with other freshwater invertebrates, they are at the heart of the freshwater ecosystem and are a vital link in the aquatic food chain.

Dr. Kathi Bauer, Head of Water and Land Stewardship at The South East Rivers Trust, said: "The reality is that despite being the only protected river in Kent, the Beult is in poor condition and bearing the scars of centuries of human pressure. We believe that the Riverfly Monitoring project is a great scheme for the local community and the wildlife that calls the river Beult home. The £3,000 we are hoping to raise through Crowdfunder.co.uk will enable us to take the first step in surveying the water quality so we can then look at what nature-based solutions are needed to restore the river and bring it back to life."

As part of the 'Bringing back the Beult' project, The South East Rivers Trust is working with Kent Wildlife Trust, Southern Water and a group of committed farmers to roll-out nature-based solutions such as leaky wood dams and buffer strips to restore wetlands and meadows across 16 hectares of the Upper Beult river catchment. These nature-bases solutions will help the landscape hold more water, replenishing 5,295m ³ of water per annum and increasing the resilience of the Beult and its wildlife to floods and droughts. Support the project here: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/river-beult-riverfly-monitoring and for further information about the Bringing Back the Beult project, visit www.southeastriverstrust.org/projects/bringing-back-the-beult