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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Flood management techniques for Inishowen
May 2019 – Prof. Mary Bourke and her #Megafloods team are currently conducting a study on natural water retention measures (also known as natural flood management) on behalf of the Inishowen Rivers Trust to investigate the suitability of the Inishowen landscape for such measures.
Inishowen Rivers Trust & Trinity College Dublin launch study into Natural Flood Management in Inishowen
Inishowen Rivers Trust receive funding from the Office of Public Works (OPW) to carry out study into the feasibility of using natural water retention measures in Inishowen.
Culdaff River Clean Up
Culdaff River Clean Up 2018 April 2018 – A great community event was held in Culdaff on Saturday 14th April 2018 in Culdaff were a number of different groups came together to clean up the village and Culdaff River. Individuals from Culdaff Community Angling Group, Culdaff Sea Anglers, Culdaff Tidy Towns, Loughs Agency and
Woodlands for Water
October 2018 – The use of trees in natural flood management is well documented and in order to find out more about trees and the tree planting schemes available to landowners, the IRT invited Ken Bucke from the Forest Service to speak at this event. This was the second event
Restoring Rivers
September 2018 – Consultant engineer Dr. Barry Walls gave an excellent talk in Colgan Hall on 29th September 2018 as part of the Inishowen Rivers Trust’s explorations on the theme of natural flood management. Dr. Walls talk began with
Wild Trout Trust in Inishowen
Nov 2017 – In November Gareth Pedley from the Wild Trout Trust, UK visited Inishowen for an advisory visit of the Culdaff River. This was an excellent opportunity to walk along the entire river and hear insights from an expert. Gareth has now prepared a documented report on the current status of the river and […]
River Care – Knowledge Share
On Wednesday Feb 22nd the Inishowen Rivers Trust invited communities and agencies to gather and share their hopes and vision for the future of Inishowen’s precious rivers, loughs and coastal waters.
Refresher – March 4th 2017
Please note this event is only open to volunteers who have been previously trained on riverfly monitoring. If you would like to learn more and are interested in being trained please Contact Us
Tree Planting in Moville
The Inishowen Rivers Trust recently took part in the One Million Trees in One Day initiative, a project of the Forestry Foundation, supported by the Woodland Trust. This ambitious project aims to plant one million trees in 24 hours across the whole of Ireland. The Inishowen Rivers Trust purchased some trees for the event and offered […]
Who’s Who on Inishowen Rivers
The Inishowen Rivers Trust invites communities and agencies to gather and share their hopes and vision for the future of Inishowen’s waters.
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.
