Ouse & Adur Rivers Trust
www.oart.org.uk
Tel: 01273-891701 or Email – info@oart.org.uk
The OART Task Force Policy - aligned with current
conservation practices
Task Force Policy
The overriding policy objective for work undertaken by the Task Force is to increase the
conservation status of watercourses, and associated habitats, within the catchments of
the Sussex Ouse and Adur. In working towards this overall objective, OART will take
account of the following strategic (numbers 1- 10) and activity specific (numbers 11-20)
policies:
Strategic Policies:
1. In planning the work of the Task Force, OART will take full account of
developments in conservation thinking/practice in relation to riverine and
associated habitats. Whilst adhering to best practice, OART will itself aim to
develop habitat restoration/enhancement techniques specifically tailored to the
Sussex Ouse and Adur catchments, e.g. in developing specific appropriate
conservation management techniques for the Wealden streams and Chalk aquifer
fed streams.
2. OART will liaise as required with landowners, fishery interests, the Environment
Agency and other organisations as appropriate, in the course of planning, and
before undertaking, practical conservation activities. OART will, if appropriate,
undertake projects in collaboration with other organisations.
3. All work will be undertaken with appropriate health and safety measures in place,
and with reference to OART Health and Safety Policy and Management System.
Risk assessments will be undertaken whenever appropriate.
4. OART has (as do other conservation organisations) limited resources and in
planning its programme of activities, will seek to target these and ensure that the
maximum conservation benefit is obtained from resource deployment. In
allocating resources, potential projects will be evaluated as to how they can
contribute to the requirement that watercourses achieve good ecological quality,
as required by the EU Water Framework Directive.
5. OART will seek to ensure that volunteers participating in Task Force activities will
have the opportunity to become conversant with best practice in relation to the
particular type of project(s) they are working on.
Oakwood House,
Bridgelands,
Barcombe Cross,
East Sussex
BN8 5BW
Company No: 03839870
Registered Charity No: 1082447
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Ouse & Adur Rivers Trust
www.oart.org.uk
Tel: 01273-891701 or Email – info@oart.org.uk
6. In addition to providing practical conservation experience for volunteers, OART
recognises that there may be wider opportunities for environmental education
linked to its activities e.g. by integrating projects/placements for university
students.
7. All Task Force work will be preceded by surveys to identify baseline
environmental characteristics and opportunities for habitat enhancement.
8. As a general rule, whenever practical and appropriate, OART will undertake
monitoring of the effects of its actions.
9. Where material use is an element of specific Task Force projects, OART will,
whenever practical, make use of locally sourced natural raw materials.
10. Specific Task Force activities (as set out under points 11-20 below)will be coordinated to provide an integrated approach to the management of specific
stream/river sections within the catchment, with, as a general rule, an overall
conservation strategy being applied to one stream at a time, rather than
piecemeal activities throughout the catchment. While enhancement of the aquatic
environment per se is the primary focus of the Task Force, it may also be
appropriate to undertake work in relation to adjacent terrestrial habitat e.g. tree
planting; bird nest site provision, where such an approach will bring the greatest
overall conservation benefit.
Activity Specific Policies:
1. OART will continue its programme of re-establishing water crowfoot (Ranunculus)
and starwort (Callitriche) to areas where these plants would naturally be expected
to be present but are currently absent. Their presence would increase habitat
diversity/quality. Careful consideration will be given to the selection of donor sites
for sourcing plants. Consideration will also, where appropriate, be given to
establishing other submerged and emergent aquatic plant species.
2. Where excessive shading is thought to be limiting biological productivity OART
will consider practical measures (e.g. coppicing) to allow light to reach stream
channels.
3. OART recognises that fencing to prevent livestock accessing river and stream
banks can bring significant environmental benefits and will encourage/participate
in the provision of fencing as appropriate.
4. Fallen trees/overhanging branches are features of significant conservation value
and will only ever be managed by OART if there is an overriding factor as to why
such action is appropriate (e.g. total blockage of stream preventing sea trout
migration).
Oakwood House,
Bridgelands,
Barcombe Cross,
East Sussex
BN8 5BW
Company No: 03839870
Registered Charity No: 1082447
Page 2 of 3
Ouse & Adur Rivers Trust
www.oart.org.uk
Tel: 01273-891701 or Email – info@oart.org.uk
5. OART recognises that the removal of large wood debris (tree trunks; branch
sections etc, generally taken as those larger than 1m x 0.1m) can have a range
of undesirable effects and as a matter of policy will not remove such material
other than on occasions where it is causing blockages sufficient to prevent sea
trout accessing spawning grounds.
6. OART will, where appropriate, introduce materials (e.g. large woody debris; large
flints and stones) to increase habitat diversity within streams, for example to
create fish hides.
7. The Task Force will seek to improve the suitability of existing gravels for brown
trout/ sea trout spawning by manual raking/water-jetting to break up compacted
gavels or those cemented by calcium precipitation, and to remove fine solids from
them. Where there is a deficiency of natural spawning gravels, OART will, if
appropriate, augment these by introducing gravels to create new spawning areas
for these species.
8. Egg incubation boxes for sea trout eggs are of potential value in situations where
increasing sea trout fry numbers would be appropriate; OART will consider their
deployment in appropriate circumstances.
9. Where sea trout migration is impeded or prevented by artificial obstructions,
OART will consider undertaking works (e.g. provision of fish pass facilities or
removal of obstructions) to allow access to upstream sections.
10. Overall habitat improvement projects may potentially involve significant instream
or channel configuration modifications, particularly where a watercourse is badly
degraded. Potential measures that could be adopted include riffle creation;
groyne/deflector construction; channel narrowing/bank reprofiling and channel
realignment to restore natural characteristics. OART will, on a case by case basis,
consider the practicality of undertaking such measures, and adopt them in
appropriate circumstances.
Oakwood House,
Bridgelands,
Barcombe Cross,
East Sussex
BN8 5BW
Company No: 03839870
Registered Charity No: 1082447
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