Julian Carnell, Sharpham Trust director and chair of the River Dart Catchment Partnership, said: “This is a great opportunity to restore vital habitat on the river and also raise awareness of the importance of our estuary for supporting wildlife, clean water and our mental health”.
Emma Magee, the Environment Agency’s South Devon catchment coordinator, said: “These places are too important for people and wildlife to let them just slip away. We need people to see and feel a connection to these places to help care for them”.
Saving our saltmarshes
Already, more than 200 bundles of hazel & willow - made by volunteers and Ambios nature recovery trainees - have been positioned in the marshes to catch sediment which will then support growing plant life.
As well as delivering the bundles, Dart Harbour has also run boat trips to take people out to see the marshes.
Work on repairing stonewalling which protects areas of saltmarsh at, Sharpham, is due to begin in early March. The plan is to transport stone from a local quarry up river on a barge with the help of Dart Harbour. Then local stonewaller Martin Stallard will rebuild sections of dry stone wall which have collapsed over the decades.
