INISHOWEN RIVER GUARDIANS
A River Guardian is a volunteer from the community who is trained to survey, monitor and restore the rivers, lakes and coastal areas of Inishowen.
River GuardiansInishowen Rivers Guardians. can take on a variety of roles – collecting data and returning information to the IRT, helping out on restoration projects and helping to increase our knowledge of our rivers and how we can best protect them.
2021 Programme
For 2021 the Trust have a new and exciting programme of courses to offer which have been funded by Rethink Ireland’s Innovate Together Award. Due to the current Covid restrictions we need to be flexible about how we work and learn and we have developed a blended approach to the programme. This year we will offer webinars, online guided tutorials, instructional videos, face-to-face outdoor training and perhaps even good old fashioned posting of material!
The events and training for 2021 are well underway. Courses book up quickly and we are often asked how they can find out when the courses registrations are released. There are several ways you can do this:
1. Follow us on Facebook
2. Follow us on our Eventbrite channel
3. Register as a volunteer
When you sign up as a volunteer (Volunteer Registration Form) you will get a direct email about the courses on offer. Our Training co-ordinator, Bren, will register your interest and provide all the information you need to do the course. He can also keep you informed of volunteer opportunities where you can put your new skills into practice.
Contact Bren@inishowenriverstrust.com for more information.
list of the upcoming courses
A list of the upcoming courses are available here for download. Please note courses details (including dates) are subject to change. Please contact us for bookings details.
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Community Collaboration on Nature Based Solutions
July 23rd 2020 – Members of the Clonmany community came together in the Community Centre on Thursday night July 23rd to discuss nature based solutions (NBS) for flood management with flood experts Prof Mary Bourke, Trinity College and Dr. Paul Quinn, University of Newcastle. Prof. Bourke linked in via Zoom to deliver a presentation that […]
New Project Officer
July 2020 – We are delighted to announce that Trish Murphy has become the first Project Officer for the Inishowen Rivers Trust, a newly created role that represents a significant step forward for rivers trusts in Ireland. Trish was a founding director of the Trust and has been involved in a voluntary capacity since it […]
Flood Management in Clonmany
July 2020 – Like many parts of Inishowen and the North West, Clonmany village was badly effected by the flood of August 2017. Many residential homes, business premises and lands were inundated with significant damage to the economy and well being of the local population. But flooding is Clonmany is not a new issue. Flooding […]
Volunteering during Covid restrictions
June 2020 – Despite the lockdown and cancellation of many activities, there is still one Inishowen Rivers Trust volunteering activity that you can engage with – recording Invasive Alien Species (IAS). Currently we are restricted to a 5km radius from our home but on June 8th this will extend to 20km. This gives us plenty […]
Watch Eco Eye online
April 2020 – Back in November 2019, the Eco Eye Production team visited Inishowen as part of their episode on water quality, On the Waterfront, in Series 18, Episode 5. The program looked at the pressures on waterbodies and how communities are getting involved in monitoring, restoring and protecting their local rivers and lakes. The […]
ECO Carn launches Wildflower recording form
ECO Carn – the community initiative in Carndonagh which aims to develop a biodiversity action plan for the town – has launched a new Wildflowers recording form to help capture records of wildflowers growing in the local area. During the Covid-19 restrictions, it has not been possible for the ecologist to do an audit of […]
Our Tree Planting Season
March 2020 – Our tree planting season has ended 🙁 . We’re tired – and mucky – but very happy to have facilitated the planting of approximately 2000 native Irish trees in various locations across Inishowen this year. It has been a privilege to help landowners to plant trees for the future and we are […]
We Are Hiring!
Closing Date: 25th March 2020 at 5pm The Inishowen Rivers Trust are delighted to announce that we are now hiring our first ever staff member! Although the Trust has been operating for 5 years, it has always been through the fantastic support of our volunteers and hard working Board of Directors. Putting a Project Officer […]
Can Nature-based solutions provide an answer?
Community discuss natural flood management measures February 2020 – On Friday 14th February, the Inishowen Rivers Trust invited the community to hear more about their research into Natural Water Retention Measures (NWRM) and discuss the opportunities for delivering these in Inishowen. The meeting held in Colgan Hall was attended by a diverse range of interested […]
Tree Planting in Urris 2020
Saturday 22nd February 2020 – 10am – 3pm At the Inishowen Rivers Trust we love to encourage the planting of trees and this year again we are giving away native trees to anyone with the space to plant them! With the kind support of the Community Environment Action Fund (Donegal CoCo and Dept of Communications, […]
The Development of the Inishowen River Guardians Programme
In 2018/2019 the IRT were awarded funding through the EU Leader Programme to offer a range of training modules. The modules were open to all participants who wished to get involved with the work of the Trust and the following courses were completed.
Riverfly Monitoring (ARMI Training)
Small Stream Characterisation Course (Atlantic Salmon Trust)
Electrofishing
Bank Erosion Control
Hydromorphology
Invasive Species Control
ArcGIS Online
Chainsaw Certification
These courses ran between December 2018 and October 2019 and the programme was a resounding success with 77 course places taken up by volunteers.
Due to the success of the programme, the IRT Board of Directors were keen to deliver more training and were delighted to be recipients of Rethink Ireland’s Innovate Together Award announced in December 2020. This new round of funding will help to to develop a new programme delivering additional courses (some old, some new) to further enhance the skills and knowledge of our volunteers. These new courses will be delivered using a blended learning approach, mixing instructional video, live online workshops and outdoor field trips. Dependent on Covid-19 restrictions, we hope to run these courses between April and September 2021.
If you would like to find out more about training with the Trust, please call 087 647 8183 or email inishowenriverstrust@gmail.com.
