Introducing: Don Catchment Rivers Trust

24th January 2024

Hello, we are Don Catchment Rivers Trust (DCRT), and we are delighted to have recently joined the Sheffield Chamber of Commerce. We are an environmental charity and part of the Rivers Trust movement.

Hello, we are Don Catchment Rivers Trust (DCRT), and we are delighted to have recently joined the Sheffield Chamber of Commerce. We wanted to introduce ourselves to other chamber members and to explain a little bit about our organisation.

Don Catchment Rivers Trust is an environmental charity and part of the Rivers Trust movement, a nationwide group of charities that work to conserve and protect our rivers and streams. Our vision is to see our rivers THRIVE. We believe that positive change will ensure our rivers and their wildlife are better valued and protected into the future.

When the Trust was founded, one of the earliest aspirations was to help establish a self-sustaining Atlantic Salmon population in the River Don, despite them being missing from the catchment for over 200-years. Charitable status was obtained in 2010, and since then, our aspirations (and team!) have grown, and we have delivered many projects throughout the catchment, including major projects such as Living Heritage of the River Don (https://dcrt.org.uk/the-living-heritage-of-the-river-don/) and Hidden Heritage Secret Streams (https://dcrt.org.uk/hidden-heritage-secret-streams/).

Our breadth of work includes river restoration projects, such as re-naturalising rivers and habitat improvements; working with nature to find nature-based solutions to issues such as flooding; land management and work with farmers to improve water quality; and work with young people to inspire them about our rivers through educational visits and events. People and communities are often at the heart of our projects, and much of our work depends on dedicated volunteers who contribute their time and expertise to help litter-pick riversides, survey wildlife and create new habitats and flood storage features.

We also want to promote and encourage partnership working across the wider catchment and protect our waterways as a whole. DCRT works alongside many other local charities, landowners, organisations, councils and community groups to look after our rivers. We host the ‘Don, Dearne & Rother Network’, which works to bring all these organisations together as a catchment partnership, and we also get the opportunity to meet in person to hear about some of the great work that happens across the catchment at our annual Don, Dearne & Rother Network Day. Businesses are welcome to join the ‘Don, Dearne & Rother Network’ and you can subscribe to our bi-monthly newsletter here: https://dondearnerother.org/get-in-touch/

Our rivers and industry are intertwined in Sheffield and the river Don was central in helping to create the city’s world famous steel industry! We’d love to connect with more businesses through our catchment partnership, and if you’d like to find out some more about our work you can visit our websites here: 
https://dondearnerother.org/ 
https://dcrt.org.uk/

We are looking forward to meeting and getting to know other members, and if you’d like to find out more about our work through our catchment partnership, you can contact Erika Phoenix on email at hello@dondearnerother.org