Corporate Volunteering

 There’s nothing quite like looking over the new habitat you have created after a day of tree planting. Helping to lock in carbon, provide new homes for wildlife and store water in the landscape, it’s a very satisfying way to spend a day.  

 Escaped from gardens after it was first introduced to the UK in1839, Himalayan balsam has wreaked havoc with our natural ecosystems. Growing to over 2m in a single season, it leaves riverbanks bare during winter, so they are susceptible to erosion.  However, with its shallow roots it is easily pulled by a team of volunteers, making for a satisfying task in our attempt to eradicate this plant from the sites we manage.

Litter picks and river clean-ups 

Instant results are achievable on our river clean ups, helping to reduce plastic pollution and its impact on river and marine wildlife.  

We run a large-scale natural flood management project which aims to reduce downstream flood risk by slowing the flow of water through the catchment and reducing the volume of water that gets to the main river. We have been creating a network of leaky dams across the catchment to hold water back during flood peaks whilst still letting fish and sediment through. Leaky dam construction involves teamwork, logical thinking and a desire to get stuck in! 

In order to make our leaky dams we often use piles of brash, which are placed in watercourses to slow the flow of water. Brash needs to be weaved into bundles and carefully tied with wire to make sure it doesn’t get swept away! This task involves lots of teamwork and a slight creative knack for bending branches into the bundles against their will!  

Seed planting at the Wyre Rivers Trust Tree Nursery 

The Wyre Rivers Trust is in the process of setting up a tree nursery so that the catchment can be planted with trees grown locally. We will need help collecting and nurturing seeds and maintaining saplings year-round.