The Dart Catchment Project

Welcome to the web pages of the Dart Catchment Project (DCP) - an exciting project that worked to develop new ways of managing the River Dart and the land that surrounds it for the benefit of both people and wildlife.

The River Dart drains from land which is of great importance in terms of its wildlife, landscape, geology and history. It is highly valued by local residents, and the farming, tourist, maritime and recreation economies in the area depend on it.

Taking action for the Dart

Through working with the people who live, work and play in the Dart Catchment, the project produced the Dart Catchment Project Action Plan. The Plan set out an ambitious work programme for the project under 7 different themes. The project team ran from 2003 - 2006.

This included providing advice and grants to farmers and land owners, using the Dart as an educational resource, and involving people in improving and surveying local habitats, whilst also increasing understanding of how the catchment worked as a whole.

What was achieved:

• Improved the management of 8 km of riverbank to the benefit of water quality and wildlife.
• Restored salmon spawning habitat over 3 km of river.
• Given advice to over 33 landowners and awarded £25,000 in grant funding.
• Installed 3 interpretation points - at Steamer Quay and The Longmarsh in Totnes, and at the Sharpham Estate at Ashprington.
• Developed a ‘Rivers Teacher Training Package’ for Key Stages 1, 2, 3 & 4.
• Involved over 4,000 people in two Dart Water Festivals.
• Distributed over 2,500 copies of its newsletter.
• Attracted over 5,000 hits onto these webpages.
• And much more……

To find out more about the work achieved on the ground and how the project’s this improved the catchment for wildlife, visit our Dart Catchment action plan page.

The lessons learnt through this project contributed to a European-wide initiative called Cycleau.