Trees join war against flooding
8 December 2010
Thousands of newly-planted trees are helping to shore up riverbanks and lakesides and lessen the impact of flooding in Cumbria.
Volunteers are planting about 2,000 locally-sourced native trees such as moisture-loving willow and alder on nine areas of vulnerable land around the Derwent and Greta rivers, where in November 2009 vast tracts of woodland were ripped up and swept away as the rivers burst their banks.
The Woodland Trust, in partnership with the Environment Agency and the Bassenthwaite Lake Restoration Programme, is also planting living willow 'fedges' as barriers to help hold eroded banks in place.
'Trees can literally slow down water and store its capacity in their system,' said Pete Leeson, of the Woodland Trust. 'They create catchments where water can be stored and can run through more slowly, and the roots of trees also act to bind together the soil on the banks.'
Strategic tree-planting has already been used successfully in experiments to combat flooding on a small group of farms in mid Wales, where trees began having a noticeable effect on soil drainage from as young as two years old.
It's also the focus of a two-year government-funded pilot scheme in North Yorkshire where the Forestry Commission and local authorities have been planting up to 15,000 trees to slow the flow of water off the moors, reducing flooding in valley communities. If successful the techniques could be adopted elsewhere in the country.