At Welsh Dee Trust, we believe this is a missed opportunity.

The River Dee and other transboundary rivers such as the Severn and Wye) need catchment-based planning.

This creates huge risks for misaligned decisions, poor coordination, and further environmental harm especially in a river already under pressure from abstraction.

The report includes 88 recommendations, but non mention cross-border river management.

The River Dee starts in Wales (where it's stored in reservoirs), then flows into England (where it's abstracted to supply cities like Liverpool).

Under the new plan, two different authorities could be undertaking planning for this system.

Electrofishing the following year showed some success with 11 Young salmon above the road crossing.

Over the next couple of months we will be back to electrofish again

Fingers crossed we see yet another increase in Salmon numbers now they have had access for 2 breeding seasons

So
@WelshDeeTrust
we have brought in tonnes of large boulders.

Placing these strategically we have created a ramp that allows salmon and other fish to swim up and over the roads.

The cause?

Several forestry road crossings were probably stopping salmon migrating upstream.

The photo shows one of these crossings.

Although Salmon can jump 2 meters, they need deep water to get a run up. Downstream of these crossings was very shallow.

In the lower sections of the river, Salmon are spawning.

You can see a hen and cock fish spawning in the video below.

But when we electrofished higher upstream, we found 0 salmon in the tributary.

Even though the habitat looked perfect!

That's excellent. Do you know when the forestry road crossings were installed?

Electrofishing the following year showed some success with 11 Young salmon above the road crossing.

Over the next couple of months we will be back to electrofish again

Fingers crossed we see yet another increase in Salmon numbers now they have had access for 2 breeding seasons

So
@WelshDeeTrust
we have brought in tonnes of large boulders.

Placing these strategically we have created a ramp that allows salmon and other fish to swim up and over the roads.

The cause?

Several forestry road crossings were probably stopping salmon migrating upstream.

The photo shows one of these crossings.

Although Salmon can jump 2 meters, they need deep water to get a run up. Downstream of these crossings was very shallow.

In the lower sections of the river, Salmon are spawning.

You can see a hen and cock fish spawning in the video below.

But when we electrofished higher upstream, we found 0 salmon in the tributary.

Even though the habitat looked perfect!

I can't quite understand how the social values payment works or who is eligible?

The scheme will also include optional actions which receive additional funding.

It's these optional actions that will have the largest impact upon river and water quality.

First reaction is that the universal actions still feels paperwork heavy, rather than focus on outcomes. 😬

That's the plan for the landowner using long horns.