With around 2,000 farms across the Eden river catchment, farming lies at its heart, playing a vital role in shaping the health of this unique landscape and its rivers. As proud custodians of the land, many farmers and landowners have worked in partnership with us here at Eden Rivers Trust, delivering projects spanning 30 years, helping to protect and improve Eden’s habitat diversity and the resilience of the wider landscape.
The combination of forward-thinking farmers and landowners and the charity’s knowledge and experience in delivering ‘nature-based solutions’, has been benefitting Eden’s farm businesses and the wider landscape for 30 years; improving soil health and water quality, creating diverse and robust habitats and future-proofing farms against climate extremes.
For the last three years, our ‘Woodlands for Water’ project, funded by Defra, has been helping farmers and landowners develop and deliver successful bids to the Forestry Commission’s England Woodland Creation Offer, funding the creation of new riparian (river) woodland at 13 sites spanning 31.5 hectares.
Our Farming and Conservations Officer, Anna Holliday said,
“It is a privilege to be able to help our farmers and landowners to navigate the maze of Government funding and environmental schemes and to consult with them on project design and implementation.
“Their ambition, the support of our funding partners and our local knowledge and expertise means that together, we are able to develop and deliver planting solutions that benefit farm businesses as well as providing big wins for the catchments habitat diversity and resilience to extreme weather events.”
