Nature news, events and conservation opportunities in the Manifold Valley

We have no events planned at the moment, but here's a recap of our first ever meeting on the 24th September.

A huge thank you to everyone who came to our first ever meeting at the Black Lion Inn in Butterton (and thank you to Hannah and Matt for hosting, and providing chip butties!).

It was an amazing turnout of at least 60 people (sorry to those who had to squeeze in somewhere, or who couldn't even get into the room!), with lively and positive discussion about what our priorities and next steps should be.

The meeting kicked off with a recap of ManifoldCAN's journey so far, from a tentative idea shared between a few people back in February, through to positive conversations with many of you at local events during summer, up to the enthusiastic, packed room on Tuesday evening.

We then shared many ideas about what ManifoldCAN could and should be doing, including:

River Quality monitoring:

It was widely agreed that this should be a high priority, as while a few areas of the Manifold River are already monitored, e.g. by the Environment Agency, much more monitoring needs to be done to help create a more complete picture of the state of the river.

This is something ManifoldCAN could be actively involved in, by joining one of the citizen science monitoring projects already set up to make it easy for community groups to get involved, meaning any of us could get involved, with no need for particular skills or knowledge.

The importance of looking at historical data (e.g. from the Environment Agency and from a 2009 study of the Manifold) was also discussed.  This would provide a benchmark, help us determine which pollutants we should be testing for, and which locations we should prioritise.

The possibility of linking with universities whose students may be interested in taking on river monitoring projects was also suggested.

Invasive species management

The main invasive species mentioned in the meeting was Himalayan Balsam. Peak Park volunteer groups already organise Himalayan Balsam pulling parties throughout the valley, but they are very short of volunteers.  It was suggested that we could help with promoting sessions to increase volunteer numbers, and alert Peak Park to new areas of Himalayan Balsam.

Events, activities and education

There was plenty of enthusiasm for ManifoldCAN organising nature-related events and activities (or providing support to / information about events being run by other organisations), e.g. family friendly activities to learn about nature in the Valley, wildlife walks, talks or social events, and litter picking.

There was also agreement that more education and awareness about nature in the valley would be good: we could engage with schools, the wider community, visitors, etc to increase knowledge and enthusiasm about the nature in the Valley, and raise awareness about the conservation issues and work being undertaken.

Information hub

A number of people suggested that it was really important to be aware of, make connections with, and share information about other conservation projects working in and around the Valley.  This would help us identify opportunities to work together, ensure we avoid duplicating work already being done, and help us provide an easy way for anyone to find out more about nature events, projects and volunteer opportunities.  This could be done through regular email newsletters, maintaining an online information hub and / or via social media.

Many suggestions were made of specific people and organisations that ManifoldCAN could make contact with, so this process has started already!

Mapping

There was enthusiasm for mapping as a way to share information about the many conservation projects in the area, identifying areas of good habitats as well as areas of concern. Suggestions were also made for mapping the location of those involved with ManifoldCAN, mapping parts of the river that are in better and worse condition and looking at flood maps.  It was suggested that there may be existing/wider projects/software that makes it easy for local groups to upload data to a mapping tool.

The discussions highlighted the many possibilities for how ManifoldCAN could develop, but it was also emphasised that for the group to achieve anything, it needed as many people as possible being actively involved, including people to help run the group, help with specific activities and events and with communication and fundraising. 

Questionnaire

To find out how people wanted to be involved, the meeting finished off by asking people to complete a short questionnaire to tell us how they would personally like to get involved.  With this questionnaire also to be made available to those who had to leave before the end or who had been unable to a get to the meeting.

If you weren't able to come to the meeting, or didn't get a chance to complete the questionnaire, it is also available here. We’d love to hear from you (it should only take a few minutes to do!).

Please complete by 8th October (it should only take a few minutes to do!). so that we can combine the information from all of our discussions and questionnaires to help develop the next steps for ManifoldCAN!

We'll look forward to updating you again soon!

The ManifoldCAN team