Pioneering river restoration declared a success delivering incredible benefits for nature and people within 12 months of completion

Pioneering river restoration declared a success delivering incredible benefits for nature and people within 12 months of completion - National Trust

A brown haired man in a bright red jacket standing on mossy ground in a river flood plain surrounded by intermittently placed wood logs, which help raise the water levels. — A new waterscape has been created on the Holnicote Estate in Somerset to help nature and people. Credit James Beck and National Trust Images

A year on from the completion of a three-year project on the National Trust’s Holnicote Estate in Somerset to reconnect a section of a river to its floodplain – the innovative ‘Stage 0’ river restoration technique, first pioneered in Oregon, USA – has been heralded a success.

The ‘ctrl alt delete’ of the river was the first large-scale attempt to reset a UK river to fully reconnect its waters with the surrounding floodplain by filling in a 1.2km managed, straightened and deepened section of the River Aller to transform the area and dramatically create seven hectares of waterscapes and wetlands (equivalent to more than ten football pitches).

A priority habitat for nature, wetlands are extremely important to not only slow the flow of water and to hold it during times of drought, but they are also significant for their ability to store carbon and act as homes for wildlife. However, sadly over 90 per cent of wetland habitat in the UK has been lost in the last 100 years, and over 10 per cent of our freshwater and wetland species are threatened with extinction.

Put to the test almost immediately after the project completed, and in the midst of England’s wettest 18-month period on record, the project team at Holnicote were both pleased, and relieved in equal measures when the landscape both improved for wildlife and helped slow the flow of water after several heavy rainfall events, helping to protect local communities downstream.

National Trust, Project Manager Ben Eardley said: “Trying any new technique is of course challenging but we need to be bold in order to tackle the climate and nature crisis. We had just the worst winter you can imagine post restoration in terms of the number of storms and sheer volume of rain. But despite it being record breaking conditions with high flowing water levels, the site responded really well, increasing the ability to store water within the site and lessening downstream storm flows, demonstrating the value of the restoration in providing resilience to hydrological extremes.”

Posted On: 18/10/2024

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