What award did the Ribble Rivers Trust win in January 2026 for its plans to protect endangered wild salmon in the River Hodder?

The Ribble Rivers Trust was honored with The Orri Award in late 2025 for its dedicated efforts to protect endangered wild salmon in the River Hodder. This prestigious accolade, announced in December 2025, recognizes outstanding community-based salmon conservation projects. The award, launched by the North Atlantic Salmon Fund (UK) (NASF UK), is named in memory of Orri Vigfússon, a renowned international salmon conservationist. It provides not only recognition but also significant funding to help further the recipient's vital work.

The Ribble Rivers Trust received the inaugural Orri Award for its "Hodder Together" project, an ambitious initiative focused on restoring salmon habitat in the River Hodder. This project involves a multi-faceted approach, including installing berms and introducing additional gravel to create essential spawning riffles and pools for juvenile salmon. Beyond habitat restoration, "Hodder Together" emphasizes active community involvement, engaging local schools in citizen science surveys and working with anglers to monitor salmon spawning. Such nature-based solutions are crucial not only for the survival of Atlantic salmon, which were upgraded to endangered status in the UK in 2023, but also for mitigating increased flood risk in the Ribble Valley.

The decline of wild Atlantic salmon in the UK, with numbers plummeting by around 70% in the past 40 years, underscores the urgency of projects like "Hodder Together". Pressures such as river barriers, pollution, habitat degradation, and rising water temperatures have severely impacted salmon populations. The Orri Award and the work of organizations like the Ribble Rivers Trust are vital in supporting local communities to reconnect with their rivers and take practical action to restore these degraded waterways, ensuring a healthier future for both the salmon and the ecosystems they inhabit.