Wild salmon award for river conservation efforts

A river trust has won a national wild salmon conservation award for its plans to protect the endangered fish and reduce flood risk in Lancashire.

The Ribble Rivers Trust has been honoured for a project which will focus on restoring salmon habitat in the River Hodder involving local communities, schools and anglers.

The project, due to start in late spring 2026, will support measures to slow water flow to create vital spawning habitat for salmon.

The North Atlantic Salmon Fund UK (NASF UK) awarded the £10,000 Orri grant, which is named in honour of its founder Orri Vigfússon.

The Ribble catchment is the area of land that is drained by the River Ribble and its major tributaries; Calder, Darwen, Douglas and Hodder.

It covers a varied landscape, from the rural hills of the Yorkshire Dales and the source of the River Ribble, to major urban areas of Lancashire including Blackburn, Burnley and Preston.

The River Hodder rises on White Hill and flows for approximately twenty-three miles to the River Ribble, entering at its largest tributary.

Jack Spees, chief executive officer of Ribble Rivers Trust, said: "We'll be engaging local schoolchildren in citizen science surveys, supporting apprentices in hands-on river restoration, and working with local anglers to monitor salmon spawning after new gravel is added."

He added: "As well as improving conditions for salmon, these nature-based solutions can help mitigate the increased flooding we've seen over the last 50 years."

Robert Sloss, chairman of NASF UK, said: "The good news is that community-led, in-river initiatives like this one really do work.

"We see improvements quite quickly in the number of salmon redds and in the number of adult fish returning from the sea to spawn."

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