News from the CEPA e-mail list

The Million Ponds Project (23/03/09)

Greetings CEPA list members:

Some months ago I sent out an email on the European Pond Conservation network, a group of universities and research institutions interested in restoring and conserving ponds in Europe. Now I have some news on another group focussed on ponds - Pond Conservation (www.pondconservation.org.uk/), a national charity in the UK dedicated to conserving freshwater pond life through research, education, training, practical conservation projects, and influencing national and international policy.

They have launched the Million Ponds Project which aims to create an effective network of new ponds across the UK, trying to make up for the significant loss of ponds in the country in the last one hundred years.

The project has produced a Pond Creation Toolkit to assist would-be pond creators who can then register their ponds with the project. The toolkit not only provides information on why clean water ponds are important but it very helpfully gives technical information on designing, planning, constructing and managing ponds. The toolkit can be downloaded as a series of fact sheets here www.pondconservation.org.uk/millionponds/pondcreationtoolkit/.

During this year, the project intends to develop species dossiers, describing pond creation techniques for over 40 of the UKs most threatened pond species.

Pond Conservation notes “We are still fundraising for the £50,000 needed to unlock £500,000 of Landfill Community Funds so that thousands of wildlife rich ponds can be dug across England and Wales. Every £10 donated will generate £100 of funds so please consider making a donation by credit or debit card at www.pondconservation.org.uk/supportus/millionpondsappeal.htm.”

So there it is – both a useful source of information on creating ponds and a very interesting project that could perhaps be replicated elsewhere.

With best wishes, Sandra Hails, Ramsar Secretariat

Dear All:

I have no idea what went wrong with the weblinks below – I’m confounded by the cyberworld yet again! I’m sure some of you have copied and pasted them into your browser and this works fine but if not, here are the complete URLs:

http://www.pondconservation.org.uk/millionponds/pondcreationtoolkit

http://www.pondconservation.org.uk/supportus/millionpondsappeal.htm

Best wishes, Sandra Hails, Ramsar Secretariat.