What is Rooting for Wildlife?
Rooting for Wildlife is a community grant that will provide financial sponsorship and Affinity Water volunteers to support partnership projects in the Lea catchment. The aim is to address declining biodiversity by supporting projects that prioritise riparian zones (land near bodies of water), designated areas, and support key habitats and species of conservation concern.
The UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world. The State of Nature Report 2023 shows that since 1970 UK species have declined by about 19% on average, and nearly 1 in 6 species (16.1%) are now threatened with extinction. The government declared a Biodiversity Emergency in 2019 raising the alarm for urgent action.
Healthy ecosystems retain and slowly release water, reducing surface water run-off and soil erosion, and help filter out pollutants from water. That's why we're committed to protecting and enhancing the species and habitats in our sites and catchments.
An example of habitat creation at one of our sites
Examples of potential projects could be:
River restoration
Such as adding materials to create pools and riffles, re-meandering the river, or creating leaky dams.
Improving habitats
Creating and enhancing areas of habitats such as wetlands, woodlands, meadows and scrub which are protected from disturbance, such as from people, dogs or livestock
Environmentally sensitive agriculture
To reduce pollution into rivers and streams, including cover crops.
Applications to Rooting for Wildlife are now closed. If you have made an application, we'll contact you to let you know the outcome by the end of July
Please note that this is our Pilot Year of Rooting for Wildlife, with the intention being to expand the scheme in the future.
If you have any questions, please contact communities@affinitywater.co.uk