River Dee Trust
The River Dee Trust is a community-based charitable company. It was set up in 1998 and is tasked with the following aims and objectives:
-
To improve our knowledge of the ecology and associated fish stocks of the River Dee so that practical improvements and restoration of the River and the wildlife it supports can be achieved. We work in co-operation with those that have the improvement of the River at heart.
-
To deliver educational information to schools, organisations and individuals living in the North East of Scotland.
As part of the SISI Phase 2 project (2023-2026) we will continue to tackle the main invasive plant species on the River Dee (Braemar to Drumoak) and the River Don (Strathdon to Inverurie). The target species being Giant Hogweed, Himalayan Balsam, Japanese Knotweed, and American Skunk Cabbage. We will also be tackling the invasive predator American Mink throughout the entire catchments of the Dee and Don. We have an active mink control programme already in place and continue to target known hotspots and recruiting volunteers, landowners and fishery managers to support this important work. We will also maintain our opportunities to engage and work with corporate business in planning volunteering days and developing opportunities for business to support the work we are doing to benefit the rivers.
We are very fortunate to have such a good group of volunteers across both catchments of the Dee and Don. These volunteers from all backgrounds have supported plant surveys, undergone training, monitored mink rafts and delivered either chemical or manual control on the Dee and Don. Without these volunteers we simple wouldn’t be able to deliver the volume of control we have through this project.
Since the beginning of the first SISI project (2017-2023) we have been limited the abundance of giant hogweed in the upper Don to a small but manageable extent across 30km of riverbank. This has allowed us to extend plant control efforts from Alford downstream to Inverurie a further 33km with much of the work from Strathdon to Alford now being undertaken by landowners themselves. We have also significantly reduced invasive plant abundance on the Cowie (6km) and Carron (4km) catchments and likewise with the mainstem Dee from the Gairn down for all species except for Himalayan Balsam. Flooding events have exposed and spread seed banks of this plant making control challenging. Mink abundance is down and strategic control approaches are proving successful and limiting a resurgence whilst we work with partners on neighbouring catchments to reduce mink dispersal.
We have also been able to hire contractors to undertake control work on the River Urie with work starting in 2023 and due to continue for three years, contributing to the much-anticipated control of giant hogweed on the River Urie. This programme will work from the source of the giant hogweed downstream in a systematic approach to control and will hopefully be the catalyst for further landowner control across the catchment.
Contact
Jan Simpson (SISI Project Officer): [email protected] Tel: 07767 848856
Or
Jamie Urquhart (Fisheries Protection Manager): [email protected] Tel: 01339 880411