Week of match-funding for Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust campaign to protect rare chalk streams like River Stort – ‘priceless jewels in our local landscape’

A fundraising campaign to protect rare chalk streams like the River Stort has been launched by Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust.

For every pound donated from Tuesday April 22 to the following Tuesday (April 29), the Big Give Green Match Fund will double it, up to a total of £20,000.

There are only 260 chalk streams in the entire world, and Hertfordshire and Middlesex are home to 10% of this rare resource.

These unique river systems support vulnerable species, including the critically endangered water vole, wild brown trout, European eel and kingfisher.

According to the wildlife trust, fundraising to protect these unique habitats – the country’s equivalent of tropical rainforests – is more vital than ever, with one in six species in Great Britain at risk of extinction.

Chalk streams face challenges posed by pollution, abstraction and modification impacting the flow, quality and physical habitat – the trinity of ecological health for a pristine chalk river.

A key measure is putting the wiggle back into rivers, reversing the actions of previous generations who straightened them. By bringing them back to follow their original courses, rivers are reconnected to their floodplains, increasing storage capacity and slowing water flow to reduce flooding.

Furthermore, their value to wildlife is increased, with a diversity of habitats, varying depths and flow providing shelter, spawning grounds and food sources for a wider range of species, thus halting the decline of 109 species associated with these unique habitats.

Sarah Perry, river catchment co-ordinator at Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust, said: “Chalk rivers are a unique natural resource that we are proud to be custodians of – priceless jewels in our local landscape.

“They have historically faced significant challenges from human development, and today, despite our awareness of their rarity and ecological value, they face the well-documented problems of pollution, over-abstraction and the growing impacts of climate change, with drought and flooding episodes becoming more frequent.

“These rare habitats and all the wildlife they support need our help more than ever, and it’s great that this is being recognised by the Big Give Green Match Fund. Every donation, no matter the size, is being doubled during the week of fundraising.

“Together with the support of our partners, we have a great track record of making a difference to the health of our local chalk rivers and helping the wildlife that relies upon them to recover, so anyone taking part in this fundraising campaign can be reassured that their donations will be well spent.

“From removing weirs enabling wildlife free passage to successful water vole reintroductions, from making our rivers wiggle once again to re-gravelling riverbeds and from reconnecting floodplains and backwaters to putting deadwood into the channel to provide spawning grounds for wild brown trout, we have the know-how, but all too often funding is a barrier to the progress we know we urgently need to make.

“The Big Give is a unique opportunity to give to this unique cause, with the feel-good factor of knowing that whatever you can give, your donation will be doubled.”

Sarah added: “There is further action we can take too. The sad reality is that only 15% of England’s rivers are in good overall health and none of these are in Hertfordshire.

“We need to see the Government commit to better protection for rivers generally, but particularly our chalk rivers, given just how rare they are on a global scale.

“The Planning and Infrastructure Bill represents a valuable opportunity to deliver the bespoke protections, identified by the CaBA Chalk Stream Restoration Strategy, that these rivers desperately need in an amendment to the Bill. By putting pressure on your local MP to support this, you can be an instrumental force in championing our precious chalk rivers.”

To support the Big Give Green Match Fund, see https://ow.ly/gYN850VAHNj.