Preparation, preparation, preparation…

November 30, 2009

In between school, and then university I did the usual student thing of getting myself a job to pay off the overdraft and or student loan.  One such job which I did during summer holidays was the “prep” boy for a painter and decorator friend of the family.  He always said that the most important thing with painting and decorating was to get the preparation right.  I learnt that the hard way once or twice trying to cut corners and then straight away you could tell after the paint was dry.   It is principle that is in much use at the moment for us at the trust.  With 14 projects lined up for next year and a relatively tight window in which to get them done, we need to make sure the preparation is done and done right, hopefully giving us a smoother ride next year.

To that end Monday we were going through the Barrowford 3 fish pass project, looking at the design quotes and planning who we would be going to quotation for the works.  Then was the preperation on another habitat project, budget, plans and grant applications.  Then there was a web seminar for the Association of Rivers Trusts, angler passport scheme.  We hope to start our next spring and so we had to make sure we were happy with everything and ready to go when the time was right.

In the evening was the Annual General Meeting for the Trust.  It was a record attendance of 31, still short of the numbers we would like to see but if we can grow it a bit every year that would be fantastic.  The usual parts of an AGM were held including the treasurer’s report from Alan Rowntree and then Philip gave the chairman’s report including project lists and plans for the next year.   Following on was Stephen’s and my reports for our respective contributions to the trust.  I think everyone was suitably surprised by the amount we had done, and the amount Philip reported we would do in the coming year.  One thing that both Alan and Philip both brought up and something of great importance, which I hate to labour here – is our “core funding”.  The trust is lacking in the core funding for staff, equipment, and administration.  Although we fund much of our project work through grants, little of the core funds are raised from here.  We rely heavily on donations, and membership of the Trust for core funding.  If the trust is to survive, we do need to raise this area of funding.  Alan urged everyone to become members and for friends and family of members to consider joining, something I echo here.  It not only gives us sustainability for staff, but it makes it a dam site easier to raise money through grants if we don’t have to include core costs.  So please consider joining if you haven’t or persuading other to join.  We hope in the coming year to offer more to members other than the satisfaction that they are making a contribution to the well being of the Catchment.

Moving onto more the more usual activities, Tuesday I went to lower Hodder, with Mark Rudd to look at the flow gauging weir, and how we can improve passage for Trout, Eels and coarse fish.  It was a successful meeting and we will be putting in an application with the EA to make some improvements.

Wednesday Stephen and I headed to Sabden to look at the off stream spawning channel and to look for salmon.  The spawning channel had altered dramatically, with some heavy erosion and massive deposits of gravel by the brook.  We will need to make some adjustments to improve the channel, which we hope to get done with volunteers, so keep an eye on this blog and you’re email as next year I will be calling for help!  In the village we looked over a bridge only to spot yet another impassable barrier, a weir that used to feed several lodges.  So my report of 61 barriers to migration at the AGM, increased to 62!  After this we headed to Padiham weir to look for salmon, none we’re seen but over 2 foot of water was pouring over the weir and we felt that this was to much water to see running fish.

Thursday was a busy office day, followed by a meeting with Kyle Young of the EA down at Lutra House to go through a project bid looking at small beck restoration.  A successful way forward was found and a bid was submitted by Kyle to the EA first thing this morning, so fingers crossed we will have some luck.

Friday, we headed out to look at the Hodder to see what the state of play with salmon migration and spawning was, there was a lot of water on, and so we looked at Losterdale and at Langden.  We saw a small trout attempting a fish pass on Losterdale, but the design of this particular fish pass left much to be desired and the poor fish stood no chance.  So with another project identified we left him to it!  On the way back to the office we popped into Ivan Hargreaves in Whalley to drop off a display and a stock of Malcolm Greenhalgh’s books for a sale on Sunday.  After a bite to eat and a bit of admin we headed upto Stock beck again in search of salmon.  None found but the beck looked in good order and I don’t think it will be long before they are their, and spawning is underway across the whole catchment in earnest.

Posted by Charles Edward Poate | Filed Under General News, Grants and project management, Restoration and Conservation Projects, Volunteers, Working Partners 

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