Educational event on river and coastal research in Salacgrīva

On 11 October, the event “Exploring our rivers and seashore together” took place in Salacgrīva, involving the public in exploring the environment and observing water quality. The LIFE IS SALACA project presented the natural values of the Salaca and the restoration of salmonid habitats. The event was held within the Interreg project CoCoRiCo, promoting public involvement and cross-border cooperation.

On 11 October, the public educational event “Exploring our rivers and seashore together” took place at the nature centre of the Nature Conservation Agency’s North Vidzeme Biosphere Reserve in Salacgrīva. Visitors could take part in citizen science activities and educational workshops, jointly exploring the coast of the Gulf of Riga, the banks of the Salaca and water quality, with a particular focus on topics such as identifying plastic pollution and biodiversity. The LIFE IS SALACA project was represented by Lauma Vizule-Kahovska, project coordinator at the Nature Conservation Agency, who gave a presentation on Latvia’s freshwater resources and their quality, the natural values of the Salaca, the North Vidzeme Biosphere Reserve and the “Salacas ieleja” (Salaca Valley) Nature Park, and gave a brief overview of one of the project’s activities – rapids restoration, which is being carried out to improve salmonid habitats in the Salaca River.

Around 12,500 rivers with a total length of 37,500 km flow through Latvia, and about 2,256 lakes larger than 1 ha lie in hollows in the landscape. Among the Baltic states, Latvia stands out with the greatest total river length and the highest river density, so we can rightly call ourselves the Baltic state richest in water. Such an honour also brings an equally great responsibility to protect and preserve our freshwater values for future generations. The Salaca River, which we can rightly call the natural pearl of North Vidzeme, is also especially notable on a Baltic scale, as it is one of the main salmon rivers in the Baltic states.

To protect this title, an activity aimed at improving salmonid habitats is being carried out within the LIFE IS SALACA project. Unfortunately, quite a few fast-flowing, shallow sections of the Salaca are heavily overgrown with emergent vegetation, especially common club-rush, whose dense root system covers the gravelly and pebbly rapids, making them unsuitable for salmonids. To make these rapids suitable for salmonids again, more than 20 ha of overgrown rapids will be restored during the LIFE IS SALACA project.

The event was held within the project “Community cooperation for rivers and coast” (CoCoRiCo) of the Interreg Estonia–Latvia cross-border cooperation programme. Its aim is to create a citizen science community in Latvia and Estonia, bringing together NGO activists, young people (schools from Pärnu–Salacgrīva and Valga–Valka), teachers, educators and researchers.