The latest phase of a £900,000 project to tackle river pollution in Upper Teesdale is complete.
More than three hectares of vegetation plots have been installed above Middleton-in-Teesdale to reduce heavy metals being washed out from abandoned mine sites.
These are located near Great Eggleshope Beck, Little Eggleshope Beck, and Marl Beck - all tributaries of the River Tees.
The vegetation will reduce rainwater runoff over the mine waste, lessening erosion and consequently decreasing the amount of heavy metals washed into the becks.
The initiative is a part of the North Pennines National Landscape's Tees-Swale: Naturally Connected programme.
The programme, funded primarily by National Lottery players through the National Lottery Heritage Fund, focuses on restoring, enhancing and linking habitats.
The Yorkshire Dales Rivers Trust and the Water and Abandoned Metal Mines (WAMM) programme, working with the Tees Rivers Trust, leads the project.
The Department for the Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (Defra) funds the project through the WAMM programme, a partnership with the Environment Agency and the Mining Remediation Authority.
About 200km of rivers in Teesdale and Swaledale are polluted by metals released from long-abandoned metal mines.
The project, which began in June, followed a successful trial at Great Eggleshope Beck in 2023.
The scheme uses a hydroseeding technique, developed with Terraffix Soil Solutions, to establish vegetation on the sites.
This technique mixes seed and various mulch materials with water and spreads them by hose to create erosion-resistant layers for plants.
Biodiversity will be boosted by creating rare calaminarian grassland habitats from plants grown from locally-sourced seed.
Dr Hugh Potter, Environment Agency Water and Abandoned Metal Mines (WAMM) programme lead, said: "We’re pleased the next phase of this innovative project has reached completion.
"It will limit the amount of heavy metals being washed out of mine wastes into rivers, improving water quality, as well as enhancing biodiversity.
"It’s been a combined effort, involving partners and landowners to bring these improvements to fruition, and it will bring real long-term environmental benefits to the area."
This year also saw crucial work to reprofile mine wastes at the Marl Beck site and to incorporate drainage.
At Little Eggleshope, work to stop erosion by reprofiling mine waste and stabilising the river banks with large stone was carried out last year, ready for the vegetation establishment work.
Future plans include tree planting at various locations on the Marl Beck and Great Eggleshope sites, to further stabilise the site and enhance the ecology.
Tim Longstaff, project manager at the Yorkshire Dales Rivers Trust, said: "This work to improve water quality and biodiversity is the result of a lot of effort by many people and organisations working together.
"Partnership is a key part of what we do as Rivers Trusts.
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"I would like to particularly thank the landowners and tenant farmers, as well as the land agents and gamekeepers at Raby Estate and Neamour holdings.
"Their help and knowledge of the land has been invaluable.
"They also continue to help with the management and monitoring of the sites, helping ensure the project’s success."
The Environment Agency said work completed here will improve the water quality in the Tees catchment and support meeting the government’s Environment Act target to halve the length of rivers polluted by harmful metals from abandoned metal mines by 2038.
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