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The Brede (River Restoration Project)
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The River Restoration Project (1994 -1998) The River Restoration Project was set up in 1994 with the main aim of establishing demonstration projects which showed how state of the art restoration techniques could be used to re-create natural ecosystems in damaged river corridors. 3 demonstration projects were set up, funded by European Union LIFE money. These were the Rivers Skerne and Cole in the UK and the River Brede in Denmark. The rural River Cole and the urban River Skerne have been restored over a 2 km reach, and were completed in 1996. Approximately 10km of the rural River Brede was restored in Denmark. |
River Brede - Denmark
The River Brede flows through farmland in the low-lying county of South Jutland. It differs from the Cole in that the floodplain soils are much lighter sands and peats.
Historic
meanders had been removed from the river to create a totally straight
course to enable intensive grassland farming. Weirs in the river, as well
as the straightening, virtually eliminated a once valuable sea trout fishery.
A 5km reach was re-meandered under the
EU-LIFE
project, but over 20km of the Brede has now been restored as part of a
nation-wide strategy to improve the environmental management of river
valleys. The scale of re-meandering is much greater than in the UK; the
Brede once again sweeps from side to side along the 500m long floodplain
and seasonal flooding has been restored to the valley.
One unique aspect of this project is the exchange of land between farmers, which has enabled this wholescale restoration.
| The natural regeneration of the meandering river has been rapid and the sea trout are taking full advantage. As with the two UK sites the progress of natural recolonisation is being closely monitored. |
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| Click here to view a summary full colour brochure of the Brede demonstration project on-line (750KB) | ||
