agriculture, rivers and land management
Ref: L04

Irrigation of crops

Farmers manage agricultural land so that crops can be grown and livestock raised successfully. Equally, if wildlife is to flourish it needs a helping hand and good land management practices on a farm can help wildlife and rivers.

Farming can put great demands on the environment, the need for water for livestock to drink and water to wash equipment and water crops are just three examples.

Strawberries under plastic	Pressure washing tractor	Muddy tracks

Livestock poaching

Farming can also leave land susceptible to erosion (soil loss) after a crop has been harvested (because the ground is bare and unprotected) or soil is worn away through livestock movement.

When cattle churn up the soil with their hooves it is called ‘poaching’ and can lead to soil being washed into a stream or river by the rain. More soil or sediment on a streambed is not good news for salmon and trout as it will clog up the gravel and affect the survival of their eggs (B9d).

There are many ways that farmers use to manage their land to benefit wildlife and fisheries, see the next section on Rivers & Land Management Methods (L06)

Poaching by stream

Sediment in a river

Click on the titles below to find more information about the different land use issues and opportunities. Some of the land management opportunities are quite simple to implement but offer great benefits for wildlife, fisheries and farming.

Silt trapping (L06a Diag)
Coppicing (L06c Diag)
Revetments (L06b Diag)
Riverbank erosion (L06d Diag)
Overshading (L06e Diag)
Buffer zones (L06f Diag)
Stock drinking (L06g Diag & L06g1 Diag)
Water treatment areas (L06h Diag)
Woody debris (L06i)
Wetlands (L06j Diag)
Invasive weeds (L06k Diag)

Some examples of these land management issues and methods can be found on the Trust’s Demonstration Sites – visit the WRT website for information on Demonstration sites currently available for visits – www.wrt.org.uk