The Inishowen Rivers Trust have been awarded funding to develop specialist river monitoring and habitat restoration skills through a national programme.
The proposed River Guardians programme will develop specialist river monitoring and habitat restoration skills within community groups. Groups, in Milford, Donegal and Sligo Bay, will be used as pilot studies for this new syllabus.
The successful Inishowen River Guardians training, filled 481 training places, with 59 trained river guardians and 11 volunteer events. The programme developed specialised training on river monitoring and restoration techniques.
The Inishowen Rivers Trust Chair Claire Thompson said: “The Heritage Capacity Fund is an excellent opportunity to share the knowledge and experience of the Inishowen Rivers Trust from working to protect and enhance our river systems. The programme of training will support communities to run an effective river group and create a strong volunteer base of well trained River Guardians.”
The funding was awarded by the Heritage Council under their Heritage Capacity Fund 2023.
The first event is a two-part webinar on the evolution of our landscape in the North West of Ireland, on Thursday 27th April at 7pm and Thursday 18th May at 7pm. Delivered by Dr. Peter Wilson, Emeritus Professor and lecturer in geomorphology at Ulster University, the events are open to the public and available free of charge, online through Eventbrite https://RiverGuardians.eventbrite.ie.
The Inishowen Rivers Trust is a charity dedicated to the conservation, protection and enhancement of the natural heritage of our river systems. With over seven years of experience working in the area of river restoration, they have an opportunity to equip communities with skills to take an active role in the restoration of their local river habitats. Improving water quality, fishing stocks, and biodiversity whilst protecting and restoring natural heritage.
