Designing and managing forests and woodlands to reduce flood risk

UK Forestry Standard Practice Guide – Designing and managing forests and woodlands to reduce flood risk

Flooding is a major environmental hazard facing the UK and one that is expected to increase with climate change. Societal impacts and economic damages are likely to escalate, with major floods already costing multiple £billion. These concerns are driving a more sustainable approach to flood risk management involving greater working with natural processes to slow down and store floodwater within upstream catchments. Woodland creation can make an important contribution to reducing downstream flood risk, while forest operations such as cultivation, drainage, road construction and harvesting can have the opposite effect if not appropriately managed. Designing and managing forests and woodlands to reduce flood risk, provides advice to landowners, forest and woodland managers, planners, practitioners and flooding authorities, on how forests, forest management and woodland creation can affect flood flows and flood water storage. Applying this guidance will help ensure that forests and woodlands make a positive contribution to natural flood management as part of a more sustainable and integrated approach to protecting communities from the damaging effects of future flooding.

Contents
Introduction
Aim and scope
Flood risk management
Designing new forests and woodlands
Site location
Scale of tree planting
Woodland design
Existing land use
Tree age
Size and nature of potential flood event
Planning new woodlands to reduce flood risk
Forest and woodland management
Cultivation
Drainage
Roads and tracks
Planning felling and restocking to reduce flood risk
Interventions to slow run-off
Installing leaky woody dams to reduce flood risk .
Monitoring.
Further reading and useful sources of information
Appendix 1: Flooding authorities
Appendix 2: Assessing and managing the scale of felling to minimise flood risk
Appendix 3: Modelling impacts
Glossary