Cllr Sid Phelps and I attended a fascinating set of presentations at the Forest Waters Forum today. Organised by Forestry England, many interested stakeholders were there to learn about how partners are using natural flood management techniques to hold the water back and store it temporarily in the upper catchments to reduce flooding downstream.
Techniques such as creating attenuation ponds, leaky or debris dams, gully blocking , reintroducing beavers and riparian buffer planting were explained on site.
With the climate changing ever faster, and extreme rainfall events likely to become more frequent and severe, I am glad that the ‘Forestry’ is taking the brave decisions to rebuild wetland ecosytems and the rare mire and bog habitats needed to smooth out the peaks in water flow to reduce flooding risks.
This is a cost effective way to reduce flooding risks, increasing biodiversity, sequestering carbon and producing landscapes we can all enjoy for decades to come.