Westcountry Rivers Trust
Organisation type:
NGO/ Conservation Body
Contact name:
Laurence Couldrick
Position/ Role:
Chief Executive Officer
email:
Grants interested in applying for:
Lowland Peat Water Discovery Grant, Lowland Peat Water Implementation Grant, Paludiculture and Wetter Farming Fund
Region:
Somerset
Areas of expertise
Carbon accounting/ water management, Environmental monitoring (habitats, water quality), Hydrology, rewetting infrastructure, water management (e.g. tilting weirs, level-control structures), Farmer engagement/ knowledge exchange, Landscape scale planning (aligned with Defra's Landscape Recovery), Peatland restoration
Resources available
Monitoring and sensing equipment (e.g. hydrology, ecology, remote sensing) equipment, Staff time/ research capacity
Engagement interests
Westcountry Rivers Trust (WRT) is committed to supporting or where needed leading a collaborative consortium to secure a Lowland Peat Water Discovery Grant, leveraging our extensive expertise in catchment-scale water management and stakeholder engagement. Our approach focuses on building a "partnership of purpose" that bridges the gap between environmental restoration and agricultural viability. By joining forces with farmers, internal drainage boards, and local authorities, we aim to develop robust, evidence-based implementation plans that address the unique challenges of the Westcountry’s lowland peat catchments.
Our role within the consortium would be to provide technical leadership in hydrological modeling and monitoring, ensuring that proposed water-level interventions are both scientifically sound and practically deliverable. We recognise that this Discovery phase is a critical precursor to the upcoming Water Implementation Grant and the Paludiculture and Wetter Farming Fund. Therefore, our strategy is designed to create "investment-ready" projects that can seamlessly transition into infrastructure delivery and market-ready paludiculture trials by this summer. Through this collaborative framework, WRT will facilitate the co-design of sustainable water management solutions that reduce carbon emissions while safeguarding the long-term economic resilience of the region’s farming communities.
Additional information