• You need to be a registered member of Barbel Fishing World to post on these forums. Some of the forums are hidden from non-members. Please refer to the instructions on the ‘Register’ page for details of how to join the new incarnation of BFW...

Ea riverbank tree and vegetation habitat destruction..message to all.......

Ray Walton

Ray Walton

Senior Member
EA RIVERBANK TREE AND VEGETATION HABITAT DESTRUCTION..MESSAGE TO ALL..........
Do you know anyone who might have pictures of the cut down trees or before and after pics...The Angling Trust are on the case regarding the EA tree and bankside veg removal/destruction all around the UK, and have asked for photos from different areas and rivers. They are making the issue public. If you or others have any pics showing the carnage on your river venues then i need them.. and then forward them on to the AT asap for their press release. They are also questioning the EA/NE. ...Ray Walton

I need the name of river/canal - My email address to send pics is rollingpinboy@aol.com....

Many Thanks for you co-operation
 
I was out on the river bank yesterday with our contact from the Environment Agency's Fisheries, Biodiversity & Geomorphology division and he was horrified to see what the chainsaw gang had been up to.

Unfortunately it would appear their are conflicting interests at play; the flood defence team, navigation and fisheries and they are obviously not consulting each other or even speaking to each other.

I myself witnessed a dredging team who were removing a gravel shoal near a lock to prevent boats running aground. I asked the operator where all the spoil was going and he told me they move down river dip to find the depth and dump it in the deep holes. So there goes all the fishes winter refuges!

The trees have in places been cut back so far it now leaves enough space to steer an oil tanker through. The vast majority of the boat traffic on our river (Nene) is narrow boats. Surely they get it from the name and don't need to carve out space to navigate sea going vessels.

I may be able to get out later in the week and take some photos Ray including pictures of where they have left the sawn off branches dumped on the bank including some which now block public footpaths.
 
Thanks for that info John..Much appreciated. The pics will be very useful if you can get them. Thanks.
 
Hi Ray,

I'll see if I can find some that I took of the river Idle. Not got the 'Before' pictures though.

Dave
 
I will forward this to the clubs on the Upper Aire, not least Bradford City AA who have been devastated in both senses of the word and have been active in their opposition/liaison with the EA. Their work parties have already started to put 'snags' back in.
 
Thanks Dave... your Idle pics will be appreciated. And thanks again Kevin. I have some pics sent of the Aire Graham..They are absolutely horrific in what they have done there and the aire and calder navigation.
Interesting that the EA have hired/contracted AMEY to chop down the trees in that area and probably elsewhere. You may remember that Sheffield Council hired them to massacre 3,000 healthy trees on the streets of Sheffield because the council didn't want to maintain the roads and pavements. The public and residents protested. see links below.
Looks like the EA are being paid £1.5 billion to get it done as part of Flood Defence. The pics i am seeing are unbelievable and horrific... and nationwide. The EA and Natural England have totally destroyed the homes and sanctuary etc for wild Birds, Bats and wildlife and everything that needs trees and vegetation to survive. Unbelievable that this can happen behind our backs.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...field-bid-save-money-fear-thousands-risk.html

http://www.itv.com/news/calendar/20...in-sheffield-over-controversial-tree-felling/
 
Paul D..The EA contract/tender out the work and tell them what to do...The same with Dredging etc. It's destructive work the EA don't want to do themselves anymore, to where the blame and complaints would fall back on the themselves..ie: the EA and Natural England. Don't be fooled.

Thanks for the pics Paul W...all received and downloaded.
 
Those pics from Oxfordshire are just awful. I had a look at the comments & there are some claiming the willows have been `pollarded` - well there is a difference between pollarding & felling the whole stretch down to the soil!
I do hope you can be successful, it seems to fly in the face of EA policies elsewhere, which include increasing the amount of large woody debris in a watercourse...
 
Its not too late to plant willow cuttings,(though better in december) lets all replace each missing tree with a dozen new ones, it takes minutes of your time.Cut back some scrub willow on saturday and we replanted a number of straight pieces and pieces with roots on,just cut back at an angle at the base and push into the ground.
 
I spent a day doing just that on the Wey years ago Mark, as many of the alders had succumbed to root born fungal attack, plus the EA flood defence contractors had removed goat and cracked willows leaving desolate bank.
The snag was that within a few days the cattle had chomped them to a few inches above ground level!:eek::rolleyes:
 
My local river is an urban ****hole so no Cattle to worry about,only Otters,longlines,seine nets,crayfish,sewage/chemicals,cormorants, Pennywort, severe abstraction and EE. Now we got the EA to worry about as well, no wonder why its dying?
 
Warks Avon before

b675f38c-e0b7-48ba-a151-fe776874b1d1.jpg


Warks Avon now

40699c56-2e96-4a38-97d8-89bf6680a14b.jpg
 
This is a reply I received from the EA in answer to an enquiry I made about cutting trees down and what the reasons were.

Dear Mr Young



On designated main rivers we undertake channel clearance and other works to a planned schedule. This doesn’t mean we own the watercourses classed as main rivers, as we have permissive access to carry out our work.



The work we do on watercourse maintenance is for our flood defence remit and is therefore planned and prioritised by flood risk, whilst also considering the seasonal environmental impact. Our maintenance budget and resources are deployed to achieve the best overall outcome for flood defence.

On one hand they are cutting trees down and dumping them into watercourses to "hold water back" didn't they know that wood just might float away come a reasonable rise in water level? then there is yet another part of the EA that says cutting trees down will stop flooding :confused: all I can think is that it will speed up bank erosion. how many tees have been cut down that grew on a flood plain I wonder?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top