BART are seeking every day river heroes to help us protect and restore the rivers of the Bristol Avon. We aim to strengthen our network of BART Beacons so we can best target our work to conserve and enhance the status of our waterbodies for current and future generations.
We know how much people love spending time near, in or on the water and we would like committed volunteers to use this time to help BART look after our rivers and streams.
BART Beacons are our eyes and ears on the ground, responding to issues or letting us know if they spot opportunities for improvement on their local river. Our Beacons are individuals or groups who can be a local contact for the public seeking guidance on how to best respond to a problem with their local river.
Over the years our Beacons have helped us build cases for river restoration, brought communities together to look after their natural spaces and responded quickly to major issues such as pollutions or habitat clearance.
BART can guide Beacons on the best action to take if they spot an issue or are contacted by a concerned member of the public. This could involve gathering photos to share with BART or reporting an incident to the Environment Agency or local authority. By becoming a Beacon you will help BART to keep an eye on the whole catchment and save our charity time and resource by responding to queries we would otherwise need to respond to.
Sign up to become a BART Beacon by contacting info@bristolavonriverstrust.org with your name and email address and the river or stream you would like to become a Beacon for. BART will provide you with guidance on the role and how best to carry it out.
Alternatively, if you would not like to be contactable by the public then we can provide our BART email address on your map pin. This is still a valuable role as we need eyes and ears across the catchment and the Beacon map will show how many committed river guardians there are caring for our rivers.
If you have spotted an issue with your local river or stream and think BART should know about it please get in touch with your local Beacon who can guide you on the best course of action.
The map below shows the location of our Beacons to date – just click on a Beacon near you to find out details.
If there is not a Beacon local to you then perhaps you would consider signing up or creating a local Beacon group to help look after it? Please get in touch with BART to register your interest.
If you spot a suspected pollution incident or other environmental issue you should report it to the Environment Agency Incident Hotline:
BART are interested in your positive sightings as well as the issues so if you see something that you think we would appreciate hearing about or seeing photos of please get in touch. You will also find links to BART’s social media at the bottom of the page.