Management Plan - North York Moors National Park

EnvironmentMonitoring of fish populations by the Environment Agencyshows that the rivers and streams of the National Park areimportant for brown trout, brook lamprey and bullheadand that populations have remained reasonably stable overthe last 10 years. The Esk is a salmon and sea trout riverwhich is important for the economy of the area. Salmonnumbers have improved since a release programme usingEsk provenance stock was introduced in the mid-1990s, butsalmon numbers are still not meeting the River Esk SalmonAction Plan targets, although targets for sea trout are beingattained.Water quality improvements in the Humber Catchmentnow mean that migratory salmon and sea trout canpotentially access all of the Rye and Derwent tributaries inthe National Park. The main restrictions to this are physicalbarriers, such as weirs, outside the National Park boundary.The aim for increasing renewable energy may lead topressure for more hydroelectric schemes along the NationalPark’s rivers. Such installations must include measures toensure that fish migration can still take place and in someinstances measures can be put in place to improve on thecurrent situation.Rivers that flow through the Park can be prone to floodingduring times of heavy rainfall and some communities in andaround the Park have suffered from this. Notable recentincidents in the Park include flooding in Hawnby, Rievaulxand Helmsley in 2005 and floods have also been recordedat settlements along the Esk Valley. There have also beenmany floods in settlements just outside of the National Parkincluding at Pickering, Great Ayton and Skinningrove. Aswell as damage to property and risk to people, floodingincidents in the Park have also damaged roads, rights of wayand farmland. Annual rainfall in the National Park is generallygreater than in the surrounding lower lying areas and can beover 1,000mm 34 per year. The topography of the NationalPark, with steep sided, narrow valleys, means that run-off isoften rapid and rivers can become inundated in times of highrainfall. Measures such as blocking moorland drains are beingput in place to increase the ability of the moorland to storewater and release it slowly.Challenges● Meeting the requirements of the Water FrameworkDirective for all water bodies to achieve ‘good’ status by2015.● Removing barriers to fish migration.● Continuing diffuse pollution of water courses.● Climate change is predicted to bring about an increase inthe frequency and severity of flooding, and also periodsof drought, both of which may affect water levels, qualityand wildlife.● Reducing the risk of flooding both within and outside theNational Park.Rivers are less susceptible to flooding in high rainfall as water isreleased more slowly from the moors.In 15 Years Time…All water bodies in the National Park are achieving ‘good’status under the Water Framework Directive, where this hasbeen possible, which has also led to improvements in thelandscape and for biodiversity more generally. Followingthe removal of some barriers in rivers, salmon and otherspecies are now present in many of the National Park’s rivers. 34 North East Yorkshire Strategic Flood Risk Assessment (ARUP, 2010)56 www.northyorkmoors.org.uk