Upper Aire Project

About us

The Upper Aire Project


The Upper Aire Project (UAP) is a partnership project which fundamentally aims to improve water quality and habitat in the Upper Aire catchment. It covers seventeen waterbodies with a total catchment of more than 356km2.

Much of the Upper Aire catchment is adversely affected by the impacts of sediment and diffuse pollution (the combined effects of erosion, flooding, and run off from rural land). The UAP aims to restore these watercourses to good ecological status whilst preventing deterioration in others, so that ecosystem benefits delivered by them can be improved.

The overall objectives of the UAP are to improve water quality and habitat in the Upper Aire catchment though practical interventions and influencing land management decisions to reinforce sustainable environmental change. The project will work to the principles of the catchment-based approach, to enhance and maximise benefits for the catchment.

Partners in the UAP

Our Partners


Upper Aire Project

Our Catchment


The Upper Aire catchment encompasses the watershed for the River Aire from its source to the Middle Aire. The source of the River Aire is in The Yorkshire Dales National Park, Airehead Spring, North of Malham. This is a landscape characterised by iconic karst limestone, moorland and farmland, heather topped hills and green valleys of livestock divided by traditional dry-stone walls and hedgerows.


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Our Work


For over 10 years, the Upper Aire Project (UAP) has been striving to improve water quality and habitat in the Upper Aire catchment. Click on the case studies to find out more about work delivered by the Upper Aire Project.

Community engagement and volunteer participation are similarly of fundamental importance to the UAP. We seek to coordinate engagement for environmental works from community groups and volunteers where possible, to drive volunteer engagement and community support.

Click Our Work Case Studies below to learn more about our recent projects.


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Partnership Working


By partnering with multiple organisations, sustainable environmental change in the catchment is reinforced through knowledge and resource sharing. The Yorkshire Wildlife Trust have coordinated and delivered several partnership projects across the Upper Aire Catchment.

Click the Partnership Case Studies below to learn more about our partnership projects.


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Upper Aire Project

Our Challenges


Whilst the Upper Aire catchment envelops a myriad of priority habitats and is characterised by several environmental and site designations, fundamental issues exist which pose a significant threat to associated habitat, wildlife and environmental quality.


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