Task Force

Task Force Policy

Strategic Policies:

1. In planning the work of the Task Force, S.O.C.S. will take full account of developments in conservation thinking/practice in relation to riverine and associated habitats. Whilst adhering to best practice, S.O.C.S. will itself aim to develop habitat restoration/enhancement techniques specifically tailored to the Ouse catchment, e.g. in developing specific appropriate conservation management techniques for the Wealden streams and Chalk aquifer fed streams.
2. S.O.C.S. will liaise as required with landowners, fishery interests, the Environment Agency and other organisations as appropriate, in the course of planning, and before undertaking, practical conservation activities. S.O.C.S. will, if appropriate, undertake projects in collaboration with other organisations.
3. All work will be undertaken with appropriate health and safety measures in place, and with reference to S.O.C.S. Health and Safety Policy and Management System. Risk assessments will be undertaken whenever appropriate
4. S.O.C.S. has (as do other conservation organisations) limited resources and in planning its programme of activities, will seek to target these and ensure that the maximum conservation benefit is obtained from resource deployment. In allocating resources, potential projects will be evaluated as to how they can contribute to the requirement that watercourses achieve good ecological quality, as required by the EU Water Framework Directive.
5. S.O.C.S. will seek to ensure that volunteers participating in Task Force activities will have the opportunity to become conversant with best practice in relation to the particular type of project(s) they are working on.
6. In addition to providing practical conservation experience for volunteers, S.O.C.S. recognises that there may be wider opportunities for environmental education linked to its activities e.g. by integrating projects/placements for university students.
7. All Task Force work will be preceded by surveys to identify baseline environmental characteristics and opportunities for habitat enhancement.
8. As a general rule, whenever practical and appropriate, S.O.C.S. will undertake monitoring of the effects of its actions.
9. Where material use is an element of specific Task Force projects, S.O.C.S. will, whenever practical, make use of locally sourced natural raw materials.
10. Specific Task Force activities (as set out under points 11-20 below)will be co-ordinated to provide an integrated approach to the management of specific stream/river sections within the catchment, with, as a general rule, an overall conservation strategy being applied to one stream at a time, rather than piecemeal activities throughout the catchment. While enhancement of the aquatic environment per se is the primary focus of the Task Force, it may also be appropriate to undertake work in relation to adjacent terrestrial habitat e.g. tree planting; bird nest site provision, where such an approach will bring the greatest overall conservation benefit.

Activity Specific Policies:

11. S.O.C.S. will continue its programme of re-establishing water crowfoot ( Ranunculus ) and starwort ( Callitriche ) to areas where these plants would naturally be expected to be present but are currently absent. Their presence would increase habitat diversity/quality. Careful consideration will be given to the selection of donor sites for sourcing plants. Consideration will also, where appropriate, be given to establishing other submerged and emergent aquatic plant species.
12. Where excessive shading is thought to be limiting biological productivity S.O.C.S. will consider practical measures (e.g. coppicing) to allow light to reach stream channels.
13. S.O.C.S. recognises that fencing to prevent livestock accessing river and stream banks can bring significant environmental benefits and will encourage/participate in the provision of fencing as appropriate.
14. Fallen trees/overhanging branches are features of significant conservation value and will only ever be managed by S.O.C.S. if there is an overriding factor as to why such action is appropriate (e.g. total blockage of stream preventing sea trout migration).
15. S.O.C.S. recognises that the removal of large wood debris (tree trunks; branch sections etc, generally taken as those larger than 1m x 0.1m) can have a range of undesirable effects and as a matter of policy will not remove such material other than on occasions where it is causing blockages sufficient to prevent sea trout accessing spawning grounds.
16. S.O.C.S. will, where appropriate, introduce materials (e.g. large woody debris; large flints and stones) to increase habitat diversity within streams, for example to create fish hides.
17. The Task Force will seek to improve the suitability of existing gravels for brown trout/ sea trout spawning by manual raking/water-jetting to break up compacted gavels or those cemented by calcium precipitation, and to remove fine solids from them. Where there is a deficiency of natural spawning gravels, S.O.C.S. will, if appropriate, augment these by introducing gravels to create new spawning areas for these species.
18. Egg incubation boxes for sea trout eggs are of potential value in situations where increasing sea trout fry numbers would be appropriate; S.O.C.S. will consider their deployment in appropriate circumstances.
19. Where sea trout migration is impeded or prevented by artificial obstructions, S.O.C.S. will consider undertaking works (e.g. provision of fish pass facilities or removal of obstructions) to allow access to upstream sections.
20. Overall habitat improvement projects may potentially involve significant instream or channel configuration modifications, particularly where a watercourse is badly degraded. Potential measures that could be adopted include riffle creation; groyne/deflector construction; channel narrowing/bank reprofiling and channel realignment to restore natural characteristics. S.O.C.S. will, on a case by case basis, consider the practicality of undertaking such measures, and adopt them in appropriate circumstances.