Calder Rivers Trust is a registered charity dedicated to protecting, restoring, and celebrating the rivers and waterways of Calderdale, Kirklees, and Wakefield.
Founded in 2009, we've spent over fifteen years getting to know every bend, beck, and tributary of the Calder catchment. We work with local communities, landowners, businesses, and volunteers to tackle the pressures facing our rivers: from pollution and flood risk to declining wildlife and habitat loss.
We're a small team with a big patch. Our rivers, the Calder, the Colne, the Holme, and all the waterways in between, run through the heart of some of the most distinctive countryside in West Yorkshire. Our work keeps the rivers healthy, wildlife-rich, and valued by the communities who live alongside them.
The Dipper is a little bird with a lot to tell us.
Associated with healthy rivers and waterways, it's often seen bobbing in and out of the water in search of small fish and insects. Spotting one along the Calder or its tributaries is a sign the river is flourishing. Right now, it can only be found in special places.
We dedicated our logo to the Dipper because it represents everything we're working towards. A wildlife-rich, healthy river, where one day this little bird might be seen along its entire length. That's our ambition, and it's why we do what we do.
Spotted a Dipper ? Let us know! →
We're your local Rivers Trust. A registered charity working across Calderdale, Kirklees, and Wakefield to protect, restore, and celebrate the rivers at the heart of this landscape.
From the River Calder to the Colne, the Holme, and every beck and brook in between, we work with local communities, volunteers, and partners to make our waterways healthier, wilder, and more resilient. We're part of a network of over 60 Rivers Trusts across the UK and Ireland, all united by a single goal: rivers that people and wildlife can thrive alongside.
The River Calder has shaped this part of West Yorkshire for millions of years. Its valleys were carved by water, its towns were built on it, and its floods have tested the communities alongside it time and again.
Understanding that history is part of understanding why this river matters so much, and why protecting it is what we are all about. If you'd like to know more, we've put together a detailed history of the Calder catchment, from its geology and early settlement through to the industrial age and beyond.
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Our sustainable approach
At Calder Rivers Trust, we believe that sustainable design isn’t just a choice, it is an obligation. The health of our natural world is at the heart of everything we do, and that includes our digital footprint. Our approach to building our website reflects our commitment to a world where both our rivers and our climate can thrive.
By using compressed images, simplified code, and optimised content, we ensure our online presence aligns with our mission to protect nature. Through these practices, we have kept our environmental impact to a minimum.
Impact: Our homepage produces just 0.12g of CO₂ per page load.
Performance: This makes our site cleaner than 71% of all web pages tested globally.
Measurement: We track our footprint using Website Carbon, which calculates footprints based on data transfer, energy use, and the carbon intensity of the electricity used.
