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Woodland

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.

Case Studies

News & Events

The Scottish Government is seeking views on Scotland's first Flood Resilience Strategy. The strategy will focus what needs to be done to make communities more flood resilient over the coming...
The Engineering with Nature initiative (led by US Army Corps of Engineers) has now published "Engineering with Nature: An Atlas, volume 3". The atlas contains lots of global case studies that...
Sniffer hosted Scotland's Flood Resilience Conference at Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh on 8 - 9 February 2024. This was a hybrid event and almost 700 people attended across the two days....

Literature

What can be learnt from working with a community to identify what flood risk management measures are needed, are acceptable and which deliver the greatest multiple benefits?

Images

Videos

Embedded thumbnail for Eddleston Water, Tweed Catchment
Embedded thumbnail for Eddleston Water, Tweed Catchment