River Guardians

Embrace your role as a river guardian and nature protector by joining the rivers movement. Together, we safeguard and ‘adopt’ sections of the River Avon alongside a dedicated community of guardians. Your commitment ensures the preservation of our precious waterways for future generations.

Guardian groups are forming from source to sea and tackling the issues on the ground to improve their local waterways. Let’s make a difference together.

We are asking community groups, existing and new, to ‘adopt’ a section of river, to build a regional watershed movement for regeneration. With Guardian Groups along the whole river Avon and throughout its watershed, we can begin to rebuild the relationships to place that are essential for the flourishing of these ecosystems, water cycles and human communities. 

What is a River Guardian group?

Any community group of 2 or more people who pledge to protect and regenerate a part of the river Avon or its tributaries, sources & springs. The groups will be self-organising and community led, so the exact aims, actions and methods of organising will be decided by each group, but will broadly align with the We Are Avon aims and principles to receive support from the wider WAA and river guardian community. 

River Guardian groups could, for example: 

• Test and monitor water quality on their section of the river. Kits & training can be provided for the first 12 river guardian groups to sign up this year. feed results into a regional database to  inform targeted action plans. 
• Simply creating a community relationship with the river, holding gatherings/meetings/swims/celebrations/walks by the river 
• Lobby local councils and water companies for improvement, and their adoption of and investment in the River Avon Charter
• Engage local communities and stakeholders through river action days e.g. litter picks, restoration projects, habitat surveys, Big River Watch survey 
• Collaborate with wider We Are Avon & other projects to: 
• Create local flood resilience plans and long term nature-based solutions e.g. riparian buffers 
• Engage with landowners and farmers to support them in transition to river friendly practices and encouraging them to join the Avon farm cluster 
• Join part of the annual Avon Pilgrimage from source to sea 
• Advocate for your river and be a voice for nature ; share your river stories and experiences 

Support

The first 20 groups to register will receive budget of £500 each for their guardianship activities, events, materials etc.

All groups will receive support from We Are Avon staff team, and be connected into a river-wide movement with combined events, actions and workshops including training for groups (e.g. Riverfly monitoring, ecological citizens science, water testing, landowner engagement workshops etc.).