The Friends of the River Exe - FORE - is a group formed
just this year as a coalition of Sustainable Tiverton, Transition
Exeter and Transition Exmouth.
Their basic founding principle states:
"We have come together to fight for our river's survival and
recovery, as part of the wider effort to prevent the collapse of
the natural world on which all life depends."
FORE's intention is to bring together all interested people
within the river catchment to:
- Restore
the Exe to full ecological health for the benefit of wildlife and
enjoyment by communities for generations to come.
- Advocate
for the river when it is under threat and when legal obligations to
protect it are not adhered to or enforced by government
agencies.
-
Celebrate the river and share learning and work together with
others.
With the River Creedy/Yeo catchment feeding directly into the
Exe at Cowley, Sustainable Crediton has been invited to become part
of this movement to protect and restore our local rivers.
The 24th September is World Rivers Day and based around this
date from 18th until 24th FORE is planning a series of celebratory
river related events under the umbrella of the 'Festival of the
Exe'.
Sustainable Crediton's Big Green Fair takes place on 23rd
September so we are ideally placed to join in with this celebration
at our own annual 'Green' get together. Local river related stories
we intend to cover so far include celebrating that we still have
the endangered native White-Clawed Crayfish in the Creedy and
Yeo. In many places around the country they have been wiped out by
the larger invasive Signal Crayfish so a definite plus for our
local rivers.
On the minus side the Crediton Sewage Works was one of the four
main points of illegal discharges by SWW which resulted in their
recent £2million fine!
If you would like to be involved in FORE or would just like to
know more then go to friendsoftheriverexe.org
or follow them on Facebook.
If you would like to be involved with our small part of the
festival at the Big Green Fair or just have an interest in our
local rivers then please contact myself at alan@murraydesign.co.uk
or call me on 07771 648575
And if you are interested in becoming a Citizen Scientist
helping to monitor the water quality of our rivers then contact the
Westcountry Rivers Trust at: wrt.org.uk and register your
interest with them directly.
Alan Murray