rrc@therrc.co.uk 01234 752979 www.therrc.co.uk

People and Process-Based River

Management: Restoring River Processes;

Natural Flood Management; Healthy

Catchments

16TH ANNUAL NETWORK CONFERENCE

The RRC would like to thank the sponsors of the RRC Annual Conference 2015 who support discounted places

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COMMUNITY-BASED MONITORING FOR CATCHMENT MANAGEMENT & RESTORATION

Eleanor Starkey1 – PhD Researcher

Dr Geoff Parkin1, Dr Paul Quinn1, Dr Andy Large1, Dr Ceri Gibson2

1 Newcastle University, 2 Tyne Rivers Trust

• Problems – general & Engineering/Catchment Scientist perspective

• Moving with the times - local level involvement

• The research goals – CBM&M

• Case Study: Haltwhistle Burn

• Using the data (Haltwhistle Burn)

• Sharing best practice with other communities

• Key benefits & issues to consider

• Next steps for the research

Content

General catchment issues

3rd February 2014

? Weather extremes

Local response

? WwNP

General catchment issues

Patricia Yates

3rd February 2014

? Weather extremes

Local response

?

@westjes

WwNP

NEED EVIDENCE LOCAL LEVEL

= CONFIDENCE

Advanced technology but…

• Expensive to buy & maintain

• Travel to get the data

• Poor spatial resolution

• Unlikely in rural catchments

• Who owns the data?

• Is the data available & used?

• Community awareness & do they benefit?

Advanced techniques but…

• Simplification

• Data intensive (limited in rural)

• Real data required to make sense

• Modellers are isolated

• Monitored data will always win

• Would you understand models better if you were part of the process??

Mod

ellin

g

Mon

itor

ing

Problems for Catchment Scientists / Engineers

Moving with the times - local level involvement • Those more related to flooding & catchment management…

Creek Watch

The research goals: community-based monitoring & modelling

Monitor Model Visualise Support

decisions

• Participatory Action Research + Citizen Science • Implement monitoring scheme: what/how/who/why • The data itself: quantity, quality, sustainability • Applications: use of data (with focus on catchment modelling)

Case study: Haltwhistle Burn, Northumberland

Map backdrop: An Ordnance Survey / Edina Digimap supplied service 2013 ©

Developing & implementing a citizen science approach in Haltwhistle [1] • Supporting tools & resources

• Effective engagement

http://research.ncl.ac.uk/haltwhistleburn/

Developing & implementing a citizen science approach in Haltwhistle [2] • Knowledge exchange Collect data Submit Share Feedback

Haltwhistle Burn – examples from 2014 floods • It only takes one or two ‘cloud burst’ events & we are flooded with data!

22

nd/2

3rd D

ec

30

th A

pril

<1.3%

Haltwhistle Burn – using the data Endless applications but those to date include:

• Forms part of Haltwhistle Burn CMP

• Highlighted sub-catchments & supported NFM plan

• Defined triggers for telemetry alarm

• Legacy to Defra’s CRF project (led by Tyne Rivers Trust)

• Supporting catchment modelling process (input, calibration, validation)

Sharing best practice with other communities • Red Burn catchment (12km2), Acomb in Northumberland

Action4Acomb

Key benefits & issues to consider

Professional data

Citizen Science data

?

• Funding • Facilitators • On-going participation • Reliability & quality • Evolving technology • Ethics • Expectations & feedback • Timescales

• Data = evidence • Short-term preparedness • Long-term management • Wider engagement on a

local level • Awareness &

understanding • Innovative yet low-cost

Conclusions & next steps for the research

• Citizen science can support catchment management & restoration

• Communities do want to be involved

• As technology improves, so will citizen science

• Image analysis: river levels & velocities

• Monitor NFM using citizen science

• Feed modelling results back to the community

• Develop a simple modelling tool for the community

Con

clusion

s N

ext

step

s

Acknowledgements

Haltwhistle | Acomb | Wark

Northumberland communities

More information

• http://research.ncl.ac.uk/haltwhistleburn/

• http://bit.do/acomb-citizen-science

• @HaltwhistleBurn @RedBurnAcomb

• ‘Community Involvement in UK Catchment Management’ http://www.fwr.org/Catchment/frr0021.pdf