Rewilding, Historic Irish Fauna, George Monbiot etc.

OpenYourEyes

Trees, floodplains (i.e. ag land that we agree/pay to let flood in winter), restored peatlands, and not letting people build unnecessarily on land that has a history of flooding every single year - problem sorted! Havn't heard even one of those solutions being mentioned by any politician though.

Michael Fitzmaurice even 'liked' a post on facebook that ridiculed the idea of 'flooding' the bogs!

Jayzesake

Keplar240B wrote: »

Interesting seeing all this flooding and yet no one talking about growing and planting more trees as a solution instead of "flood defenses".

We live in a temperate rain forest without hardly any forest, heavy flooding is to be expected.

It’s as if it had come to remind us of what’s at stake. While the climate negotiations in Paris trudge their dreary road, Storm Desmond takes a great boot to our backsides. Yet still we fail to make the connection. The news records the spectacle and ignores the implications.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/dec/07/hide-evidence-storm-desmond-floods-paris-talks

For me the most important benefits of restoring some of our lost forests would be ecological, given the habitat they would provide for so many species. But it beggars belief that the powers that be cannot join the dots on the connections with climate change, flooding, etc. As Keplar says, in none of the news reports on Storm Desmond and the resultant flooding are the reasons behind these increased problems ever explored or even raised as an issue.

Jayzesake

Keplar240B wrote: »

Interesting seeing all this flooding and yet no one talking about growing and planting more trees as a solution instead of "flood defenses".

We live in a temperate rain forest without hardly any forest, heavy flooding is to be expected.

Flooding, trees and rewilding

There are two principal reasons for freshwater flooding. The first, obviously, is heavy rainfall. Second, perhaps less obviously, is the way in which land and rivers respond to this rainfall. We believe that the restoration of some of Britain’s missing ecosystems could play a major role in the prevention and mitigation of the kind of floods now blighting Cumbria and parts of Scotland.

http://www.rewildingbritain.org.uk/magazine/flooding-trees-and-rewilding

Jayzesake

Walk on the Wild Side

Rewilding, hillwalking and the extraordinary history of these islands.

George Monbiot, interviewed by Dan Bailey for UKHillwalking.com, 11th December 2015

Re-wilding seems to be moving up the agenda of the large conservation organisations, and gaining a space in the public discourse. Do you see grounds for optimism?

It certainly is. Before Feral was published, I visited all the principal conservation groups, and received responses that varied from mild interest to outright rejection. The change over the past three years has been astonishing. Rewilding appears to have moved from the fringe of the mainstream, and I’m delighted to see how these groups have begun to pick it up and engage with it. There’s still a long way to go, and plenty of daft practices still in play, but change among the conservation groups is certainly happening, albeit slowly. We will see rewilding in this country. The question is how far and how fast it will go.

http://www.monbiot.com/2015/12/17/walk-on-the-wild-side/

Keplar240B

Jayzesake wrote: »

Walk on the Wild Side

Rewilding, hillwalking and the extraordinary history of these islands.

George Monbiot, interviewed by Dan Bailey for UKHillwalking.com, 11th December 2015




http://www.monbiot.com/2015/12/17/walk-on-the-wild-side/

"The other great benefit of allowing trees to return to the hills is the restoration of watersheds. In one study in Wales, the soil beneath woodland was found to absorb water at 67 times the rate of the soil beneath sheep pasture. The rain flashes off sheep pasture as if it were concrete, instantly causing floods downstream. Trees hold back the water and release it gradually, smoothing out the cycle of flood and drought".

Keplar240B

From 2014 Irish examiner, very similar to what Monbiot is saying but in an irish context, no brainer

Pay upland farmers forestry grants instead of the EU and exchequer-funded payments they get now, suggests environmentalist Tony Lowes.

The trees they plant on the high ground would hold water at source, which would greatly alleviate river flooding, says Friends of the Irish Environment spokesman Lowes.

“Research has shown that water sinks into the soil under native broadleaf trees at 67 times the rate at which it sinks into the soil under grass. This is due to the roots of the tree transforming the ground into a spongy reservoir which will absorb water and release it slowly.”

He claims that the upland forestry, including existing scrub, would provide essential wildlife corridors and amenities for recreational users, as well as count for Ireland’s carbon credits — and alleviate flooding, without having to resort to limited but expensive, engineering solutions.


.................
What has happened is subsidy rules have enforced mass clearance of vegetation from the hills, and this isn’t good for anyone.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/farming/profile/how-forestry-grants-could-reduce-river-floods-258568.html

Jayzesake

Keplar240B wrote: »

From 2014 Irish examiner, very similar to what Monbiot is saying but in an irish context, no brainer
http://www.irishexaminer.com/farming/profile/how-forestry-grants-could-reduce-river-floods-258568.html

Excellent suggestions, though the risk in this country is that rather than allowing the formation of actual woodland ecosystems/habitat, we'd just get more commercial plantations. ("Sure... aren't they trees?")

Jayzesake

UK flooding: How a town in Yorkshire worked with nature to stay dry

Pickering pulled off protection by embracing the very opposite of what passes for conventional wisdom

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/uk-flooding-how-a-yorkshire-flood-blackspot-worked-with-nature-to-stay-dry-a6794286.html

recedite

Heres some pictures of the "bund" and other measures at Pickering.

The fallen logs across the streams are interesting, they would cause water to spill out onto the (higher altitude) floodplains during heavy rain. In a woodland/forest situation, these occur quite commonly in nature ie they won't necessarily have to be built by people, or maintained.

The reservoir formed by the bund is similar in a way to some of the reservoirs we have already built in Ireland for other reasons. At Glenasmole there are two "bunds" built primarily to supply Dublin with drinking water, but which also reduce flash flooding in the Dodder (automatically).

Then there is the infamous Parteen Weir on the Shannon which is primarily an overspill for a hydroelectric plant. ESB often release water from it at times of maximum rainfall, ie at just the wrong moment, which causes extensive flooding downstream. From their point of view, its in their interests to keep the water level behind the weir topped up as high a possible. If they released some water before the storm, in the event of a rainy weather forecast, they could protect the areas downstream. But if the rain was less than expected, they might have wasted some hydro generation capacity.

I think what the people of Pickering showed more than anything was that "joined up thinking" is more important than massive funding.