Why does the River Dee catchment need a management plan?
The River Dee catchment is the area of land that is drained by the River Dee and its tributary burns. All of the running waters in this area are connected. This means that a poor quality burn, or inappropriate land management in one part of the catchment can reduce the environmental condition of the whole area. The high quality of the River Dee catchment’s water resources gives it great value – as a habitat for wildlife, for drinking water, as a recreational environment, as a basis for tourism and salmon fishing, and as a central asset underpinning much of the rural economy. We put the Dee catchement’s water to a whole range of different, and sometimes conflicting, uses. How we use and manage the catchment affects the quality of its surface and groundwaters and therefore in order to balance these increasing and often competing demands there is a need to understand the needs and impacts associated with different uses of the catchment. To achieve this, the River Dee catchment management
