Floodway restoration Risån

Risån extends from Lidsträsket just north of Kalvträsk down to Göksjön and on to Stora Bygdeträsket before becoming part of Rickleån.

Purpose of the project

The project "Completion of River restoration in Risån" is a continuation of previous restoration projects and aims to complete the restoration of the river Risån by restoring the remaining approximately 2240 m of stream. The project will also carry out biotope mapping and electrofishing of tributaries to Risån and Sikån in order to assess the impact and develop proposals for action.

Background to the project

Collaborative project Rickleån

During the period 2017-2022, a project called "Collaboration project Rickleån" has been running in the Rickleån catchment area. The project was run by the County Administrative Board of Västerbotten and aimed to achieve the environmental quality standard Good ecological status in water bodies throughout the catchment area in collaboration with companies, residents and organizations, etc. in the catchment area and develop values linked to the watercourses by, for example, developing hiking trails.

Implementation

Floodway restoration

Within the project, the remaining floodway-affected stretches of stream will be restored, covering approximately 2240 m of watercourse. In many cases, the clearing of these stretches also affects water stretches upstream of the measure due to the lowering of rapids and thus the water level upstream has been lowered. Restoration can therefore improve aquatic environments over a much longer distance than the specific stretch where the measure is carried out.

Biotope mapping

There is currently good knowledge of physical impacts in the main watercourses Risån, Sikån and Tallån. The impact of ditches in the area has also been mapped and a project is underway to investigate possible measures for restoring wetlands. The knowledge gap that exists today is primarily what impact there is in the larger tributaries to Sikån and Risån. Previous electrofishing in some of the tributaries has shown relatively high densities of trout in side streams, which may indicate that the side streams today are of great importance for the rivers' trout populations as the density in the rivers is very low. Within the project, it is therefore planned that the side streams will be biotope mapped according to accepted methodology and proposals for action will be developed. Electrofishing will be carried out at suitable locations in the tributaries to provide an overall picture of the trout population in the catchment area.

Funding: Swedish Board of Agriculture & European Union