Background

The concept of wildlife habitat surveys in river corridors first achieved prominence in the mid 1980s, and these have become the basis of a fully integrated approach to achieving both nature conservation and land drainage objectives.

Since their introduction in Northern Ireland in the early 1990s, a programme of river corridor surveys has been undertaken annually. Rivers to be surveyed are selected from those included in the Agency’s maintenance programme of works for that year, and focus, in particular on those of significant conservation value.