Voice of the Wye speaks

We’re delighted that a new section of our website is now a platform for the official Voice of the River Wye.

In 2025, Herefordshire Council and the Wye Catchment Nutrient Management Board decided that the river should have a right to representation and created the role of ‘Voice of the River Wye’. The Board recruited someone to represent the interests of the River Wye and to vote on behalf of the River in Board decisions.

Ecologist Dr Louise Bodnar was appointed to the position and now speaks on behalf of the River, and as the River, at official meetings.  Introducing the role within her first meeting, she said "Putting the River on the board begins to move us away from an anthropocentric view of the world, where nature is a resource for us to use, towards a view in which we understand ourselves to be interdependent parts of the natural world, reminding us that we belong to the earth, the earth does not belong to us."

Dr Bodnar finds herself as a pioneer in the wider movement of Rights for Nature, which seeks to encourage greater recognition of the natural world in both everyday actions and in law, and is showing what happens when you put Nature on the Board.

We’re excited to share more of Louise’s thinking and advocacy on our website. In her posts, she communicates a scientific and ecological understanding of the living world, whilst drawing on ancient indigenous wisdom. 

This is writing which offers the gift of a different way of seeing, understanding and relating to the river. 

Join her on the journey as she explores: What if a River could speak?