Natural England has granted a Countryside Stewardship to the Tamar Community Trust (TCT) for the Calstock wetlands to assure its future for the next 20 years.
The move comes as a scheme led by the Environment Agency to reconnect the River Tamar with its original floodplain at Calstock has finished and the land leased, also for 20 years, to the community trust.
During the course of the 20 years, the landscape aims to evolve from grazing land into intertidal habitat.
Natural England, an executive non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), focuses on delivering the government’s environmental priorities and ensuring the natural environment is adequately conserved, enhanced and managed.
Hugh Tyler of Natural England said the project was only possible through a lot of support from local people including the “TCT and partnerships with Tamar Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty team, Cornwall Bird Preservation Society, Calstock Parish Council and Cornwall Wildlife Trust”.
“We’re all excited to see the changes that will take place here in the coming years,” he said.
Wetlands management
Management during the early years of Calstock wetlands will respond to monitoring by TCT’s partners, including Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Natural England and Plymouth University looking at water quality, carbon sequestration, birds, plants and fish.
TCT is also looking to improve the public experience from the public road or the permissive path that runs along the river bank.
Natural England said little land management will be needed on the 12ha site over the 20-year tenure, but it will ensure that no non-native invasive species, like Himalayan balsam, can take hold.
Jane Kiely, chair of TCT, said: “We are so pleased that the importance of creating new tidal wetlands as part of Environment Agency flood protection works is recognised by Defra in this agreement.
“The breach in the older bank along the river was made just over a year ago and having the tide coming in twice a day has changed the site from one of low-quality compacted sheep pasture to a rich habitat of mud which is very popular with the water birds and waders.
“I also love seeing the wetlands full of water at high tide, the sun glinting and the reflections of clouds and sky.”
Rob Price, Tamar catchment coordinator at the Environment Agency, said the creation and management of new intertidal habitat on the Tamar at Calstock reinforces the partnership’s collective aims to improve resilience to the changing climate and to provide a richer environment for people and nature.
“It will provide an invaluable tool in the fight against climate change by locking in carbon, boosting biodiversity, help improve overall water quality as well as providing a local amenity,” he said.
“This valuable work is an important part of an integrated programme of works to build the Tamar catchment’s resilience to a wide range of environmental pressures.”
