Bothlin Burn Restoration and Climate Resilience Project
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Investment project code: 9
Why our rivers?
The race to climate resilience, protecting our communities from climate breakdown, will be won or lost on rivers – and right now we're losing.
Damage to river systems has been so extensive that an urgent need has emerged, not only to conserve, but to restore these systems. Our degraded rivers are less able to cope with the rain we expect in the future, making flooding more likely to impact communities River rand riparian habitat restoration is an important measure to mitigate against these effects. Heavily modified rivers are often less resilient and have lost their ability to hold water in both droughts and floods.
Rivers are the veins of the Earth, transporting the water and nutrients needed to support the planet’s ecosystems, including human life. Unfortunately, they’re still threatened.
We must commit to recovering freshwater biodiversity, restoring natural river flows and cleaning up polluted water for people and nature to thrive.
Fish, amphibians, birds, insects, and invertebrates live in rivers, or find their food there. Rivers play a vital role in connecting habitats, and their value to plants and animals extends far beyond the surface area they cover.
Carbon starts its journey downstream when natural acid rain (which contains dissolved carbon dioxide from the atmosphere) dissolves minerals in rocks. This neutralises the acid and transforms carbon dioxide to bicarbonate in the water that then flows in our rivers. Bicarbonate can remain in water for thousands of years. (BBC)
Why Our River?
The Bothlin burn as it runs through the ancient woodland of the Moodiesburn Glen which sereates the communities of Moodiesburn and Chryston is a significant tribuary to the Luggie water and thereafter the clyde, restoring the river and riparian environment here has the capacity to bring multiple wins in tersm of biodiversity, community wellbeing, climate resilience, active travel, combatting health inequalites, improving community cohesion and restoration of fish populations. The burn being a positive contribution to the local environment rather than a polluted detrimental hazard is incredibly important to the surrounding communities who have expereinced an overwhelming loss of local greenspace which is essential to combat systemic health inequalities.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/NCCVols/permalink/2423176711147985/
Location: 2 miles of the river alongside the Strathkelvin Railway Path
Documents (2)
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Download file
Application Proposal - Bothlin Burn Restoration and Climate Resilience Project - 29-10-22.pdf
PDF | 120 KB -
Download file
Proposal Bothlin Burn Restoration and Climate Resilience Project
PDF | 120 KB
According to the WWF, since 1970, 85% of ALL freshwater species have been lost. 50 years ago this burn was full of native brown trout, but today there is hardly one to be found. Although inland waters such as rivers and burns are often cleaner than they ever have been, they are often “wet deserts” where the fragile balance that sustains life in all its forms has collapsed due to the activities of humans. This project is vital because the first route to the sea is in our towns and villages. We need a far better understanding that everything is connected and projects of this type help explain thus connection. This project, in an area that is regularly blighted by industrialisation and pollution, is absolutely vital. The Bothlin Burn is connected to the Luggie, which is connected to the Kelvin, which is connected to the Clyde, which is connected to the sea. This project will undoubtedly highlight the interconnectedness and importance of such local action in combating the climate crisis.
This project is desperately needed, the clear up of multiple areas of the burn littered with debris would benefit both the local community, the natural environment and the water cycle. Helping to clear up the area will assist populations of invertebrates, Herons, kingfishers, Ducks, otters and fish stocks. And would encourage locals to have some civic pride and get out more into the area.
This Project would make a massive difference. It would allow us to begin to repair the currently degraded local ecosystem whilst also facilitating community action and resilience ultimately creating a better place for people and wildlife to live in.
Here's a quote from the Clyde river Foundation in regards to the importance of restoring the ecological functions of the Bothlyn Burn.
"When I started working on the Clyde in 2002, I asked the then Senior Biologist at the Clyde River Purification Board where the Foundation’s fish survey work could be targeted to generate most benefit. His answer was the Bothlyn Burn, which was generally regarded as the poorest quality river in the entire Clyde catchment.
We had a look and it was indeed a bit mucky - sanitary litter hanging from the bank side bushes, etc. The sad fact is that water quality in the Bothlyn probably isn’t much better than it was 20 years ago. The fish populations certainly have a long way to recover".
It is simply unacceptable that river quality and biodiversity should be so poor.