Woodlands can help to attenuate floods through a number of hydrological processes, such as the interception of rainfall, increased use of water (evapotranspiration), and increased infiltration of water into the soil profile. Woodlands also act to slow surface runoff and reduce sediment transport down hillslopes, by increasing the resistance to flow. Upland areas, which have higher rainfall, steeper slopes, gullies and often quite shallow soils, can deliver significant amounts of floodwater from headwaters to the lower catchment areas. Well sited and managed woodlands protect the soil from disturbance and improve soil structure due to the action of tree roots and high inputs of organic matter. These conditions enhance the soil infiltration pathways and the water storage capacity thereby reducing direct surface run-off, erosion and sediment transport.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have recently published a book entitled "Engineering With Nature: An Atlas". The Atlas showcases 56 international projects, which includes one Scottish case study (the Bowmont Catchment). The atlas is organised into eight sections (Beaches and Dunes, Wetlands, Islands, Reefs, Riverine Systems, Levee setbacks and floodplains, use of vegetation and natural materials and environment enhancements of infrastructure).
A new video has been released outlining the role of the Eddleston Water project in the international Interreg Building with Nature project. For further details on the Eddleston water project please visit the case study page within the NFM network Scotland site. The project is funded by the Scottish Government and the European Union's Interreg North Sea Region Programme. The video can be viewed at the bottom of this page.
The West Cumbria Rivers Trust have recently published a new handbook called "Natural Flood Management Handbook: a practical guide for farmers". The book was funded by West Cumbria Rivers Trust, Environment Agency, Newground and Heritage Lottery Fund. The guide has been developed to offer simple, clear information on NFM measures for landowners and farmers in NW England.
A short report of the Interreg Building with Nature Coordination meeting has been published by Sniffer. The Scottish Government hosted the coordination meeting in Dundee in September and delegates had the opportunity to visit Eddleston, Montrose and St. Andrews NFM projects. A link to the workshop report can be found below.
Stroneslaney Farm Riparian Tree Planting Projects main aim was to boost riparian trees along the River Balvaig within the floodplain. Currently, the river lacks riparian tree cover which is suspected to be due to deer populations and livestock limiting natural regeneration in the area. This means that there is a lack of new trees growing to fill the gaps of older trees coming to the end of their life along the river.
The Building with Nature (BwN) project (funded by EU Interreg) has produced a short video to explain the project. The Scottish Government, SEPA and Tweed Forum are partners on the project and are focused on the 'catchments' workpackage (the Eddleston catchment is a case study site in the project).
The Environment Agency, CIRIA and other partners are hoping to develop technical guidance on specific Natural Flood Management measures. To begin with they have created a short scoping survey. This is your opportunity to contribute to this survey.
The survey is accessible via the link below and will close towards the end of June.
The work aimed to create a mosaic of river and floodplain habitats by allowing active river processes to develop a multi-threaded (anabranched) system together with floodplain wet woodland features. Prior to the work, the burn was a degraded perched watercourse and flowed around the edge of a field, with dredged spoil deposits used to build the flood embankments, thus disconnecting the burn from its floodplain area.
In 2016 a Natural Flood Management Handbook was published by SEPA. This comprehensive document provides an overview to Natural Flood Management. Lead author, Heather Forbes, Senior Policy Officer in SEPA’s Flood Risk Management team, said: