A GRANT of £185,000 has triggered the launch of a major scheme to clear Exmoor’s waterways of harmful invasive species.

The Water Environment Grant (WEG), funded through the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and Defra, is for the new Exmoor Non-Native Invasive Species (ENNIS) project.

The project is a joint initiative by a partnership between Exmoor National Park Authority, the Environment Agency, the National Trust, Natural England and Nicky Green Associates.

It will allow work to control invasives in the national park to be radically scaled up and extended to new species, through the procurement of a dedicated project officer for two years along with new equipment and volunteer training.

Many of Exmoor’s streams and rivers are internationally important wildlife sites, home to otters, salmon, brown trout, dipper and kingfisher, as well as mayflies, dragonflies and damselflies that provide a vital link in the food chain.

But non-native invasive species are a major threat to sensitive habitats throughout the UK, costing the British economy an estimated £1.7 billion a year according to the GB non-native species secretariat.

Exmoor National Park has been pioneering in its efforts to tackle the problem, leading a ten-year collaboration that has already cleared an area the size of six Wembley football pitches of two of Britain’s most invasive weeds – Japanese and Himalayan knotweed.

The project will treat over 70 per cent of the known 1150 knotweed sites in the national park.

Project leader Ali Hawkins, wildlife conservation officer at Exmoor National Park Authority, is appealing for volunteers to sign up to one of the training days, or help by reporting sightings of invasive species online through the Wild Watch scheme.

The Exmoor National Park website has a ‘get involved’ link for potential volunteers and a ‘wild watch’ link for people to report sightings of invasive species’.

Full report in this week’s Free Press.