Outcome NR4 Rivers and streams

Restore natural processes in rivers and streams where they have been modified. This can include: • Re-meandering of straightened channels • Wet woodland establishment and more wood in rivers • Removal of human-made obstructions (weirs, flood barriers, bank deposits etc.) • Removing stock from rivers • Creating beaver dam analogues to divert water at high flow

Design beaver re-introduction and land manager compensation schemes which would allow re-introduction after feasibility work seeking suitable locations.

All farms to have nutrient management plans & adhere to catchment sensitive farming guidance, in order to reduce nutrient input into water courses to background levels.

Reduce use of agricultural herbicides (e.g. Glyphosate, Thistlex, MCPA) on farms and estates through alternative forms of management.

Buffer streams and rivers from farmland inputs (zones 25m wide)

Reduce nutrients from sewage entering watercourses by:
Replacing septic tanks with modern Package Treatment Plants (PTPs).
Advocating for sewage treatment works to adopt tertiary treatment measures.

Restrict grazing on riparian areas to support more structurally and species diverse habitat.

Establish woodland and scrub along main rivers and tributaries and adjacent to reservoirs (through natural or assisted colonisation or through planting in buffer zones). Woodland Trust have produced a guide to design of riparian shade [39].

Support effective mine water treatment by the Mining Remediation Authority/Environment Agency at major pollution sources such as abandoned mine workings to reduce heavy metal contamination of watercourses.

Use green engineering techniques to trap and hold diffuse pollution from more dispersed sources such as mine spoil heaps across a landscape.

Report, monitor and control Invasive Non-Native Species (INNS) and follow current guidance for their removal in accordance with the Great Britain INNS Strategy [40]. Species of current concern include signal crayfish, Himalayan balsam, American mink, Japanese knotweed, parrots feather, and others.

Ensure good biosecurity by following and disseminating guidance from the Non-native Species Secretariat – ‘Check, Clean & Dry’ [41].

Remove human-made obstructions to fish passage identified in individual catchment management plans.

Follow the guidance in ‘Water voles in the North Pennines - ditch maintenance, the law and best practice’ – to avoid inadvertent (and illegal) damage to water vole habitat during farming operations such as ditch clearance [62].