Future management

Read this page in Welsh / Darllenwch y dudalen hon yn Gymraeg

The Montgomery Canal and the reserves that are constructed are man-made. In a natural habitat, it is possible that natural events such as flooding could scour a habitat and restore it to early stages. In a man-made habitat, we have to act as the natural event, intervening with prescribed management.

As we explore options for new reserves, we look to develop management plans for the sites as part of their design process. This would include actions such as a dedicated programme of monitoring to feed into the exact management that would be required, whether that be tree works, spot dredging, or invasive species control.

Case study: restoration of the Huddersfield Narrow and Rochdale Canals in 2001

The Canal & River Trust have been involved in the restoration of other SAC & SSSI canal sites for over 20 years.

• Known for the same aquatic species such as floating water plantain and various pondweeds
• Extensive translocation undertaken
• Plant material collected from the restoration areas and translocated to undisturbed but restored sections of canal, inline reserves, offline reserves and reservoirs
• Plant material locally abundant in the reservoirs
• Plant material slowly expanding outwards from the inline reserves within the canal

Wider ecology

We are not purely focused on the aquatic species in the Montgomeryshire canal area – for all of the works being undertaken, we will be looking for opportunities to extend wildlife corridors through suitable works. For example, restoring hedgerows, creation of wildlife refugia and planting the right trees in the right places.