皇冠体育app

• Northern creek network largely finished
• Channels are reconnecting to historic floodplain
• 皇冠体育app work is creating new wildlife habitats

Excavation of the network at the northern end of the site 鈥� north of South Farm Road 鈥� is now largely completed. Next spring, creeks will be excavated in the south of the site, connecting to the north under the new South Farm Road bridge.

Together, the total excavated length of the creek network already exceeds 3 kilometres. 皇冠体育appse will evolve naturally over time once connected to the Otter. One of the islands on the floodplain is also nearing completion, this will act as a refuge for birds at high tide.

Dan Boswell, Environment Agency project manager for the site, said:

When the creeks are all complete we will have a network that will reconnect the estuary to its historic floodplain.

皇冠体育app creeks will be the 鈥榲eins鈥� of the estuary, bringing new life to the valley floor, attracting a wide variety of wildlife to the wetland habitat and enabling floodwater to drain down more quickly.

皇冠体育app Lower Otter Restoration Project is part of the 鈧�26 million Promoting Adaptation to Changing Coasts (PACCo) project, which also has a similar scheme underway in the Sa芒ne Valley in Normandy, France.

In Devon it will see current grassland created during historic reclamation work replaced with 55 hectares of intertidal mudflat and saltmarsh, plus almost 3 hectares of broadleaved woodland and 1.5 kilometres of hedgerow.

Notes to editors

皇冠体育app French arm of the project, Basse Sa芒ne 2050, is in the Sa芒ne Valley in Normandy and includes building a new water treatment works and moving a campsite at Quiberville.

It is thought that up to 70 estuarine sites in northern France and southern England may benefit from the PACCo project, by following the model being used on the Lower Otter and Sa芒ne Valley.