Trees blocking Rivers

[Old Mill Tree Care]

Around here they wait for £millions of property flood damage to occur.

 

Then they clear the ditches and rivers.

 

Except the important stretch behind my house!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Arbtalk mobile app.

[Graham]

Trees in rivers are seen as an important asset for biodiversity and flood reduction.

 

Many are now left in as large woody debris (LWD). LWD creates shelter for fish, invertabrates and creates areas of differing depth due to scouring of the river bed. The increased flow around them also cleans gravels providing spawning sites for fish and suitable areas for certain nymphs to live.

 

They reduce flooding by reducing the effects of canalisation and dredging. Dredging gives only a short term effect against flooding as all that water rushing down has to back up somewhere and drop its load of suspended silt from washed off farmland so dredging becomes a vicious circle.

 

LWD stabilises the flow, creates pockets where silt can settle naturally and reduces the wash off from farmland.

 

Hopefully gone are the days, which hark back to the 60s, of creating sterile and prone to flooding waterways. Those land drainage engineers have a lot to answer for!

 

The Wild Trout Trust produced a video showing the effects of the above which demonstrates beautifully the disastrous effects of dredging. I shall try and find a link to it.

[scraggs]

We have been doing a bit of paddling along the stour in suffolk recently and was wondering the same thing.

There are quite a few down along there at the moment.

 

[agg221]

We have been doing a bit of paddling along the stour in suffolk recently and was wondering the same thing.

There are quite a few down along there at the moment.

 

Which bit? We are the riparian owners of a short stretch of the Stour, where it forms the Suffolk/Essex border and have been having a few informative discussions with the EA.

 

Trunk rivers are the responsibility of the EA to keep clear (although if it's clear that the blockage arises from a tree which is the responsibility of the riparian owner then they will obliged to clear it), however they are not responsible within 1m of a bridge. This falls to the local authority which owns the structure.

 

EA have of custom cleared some areas which are not their responsibility, however budget cuts mean they are now pushing this back.

 

I've found this out due to the 'ford' at the end of our land which is poorly designed and jams up when branches etc come down after heavy rain. It is currently blocked - EA have historically cleared it, however they are now trying to hand it back. Suffolk highways said it wasn't theirs (after a three month delay), Essex highways agree it's their responsibility but with the increasing likelihood of heavy rain, we are the ones who are at risk of flooding while the discuss who is going to sort it out. In the past, I've just done it myself but there's a big lump of willow jammed in the pipes which is beyond me (and a team of four from the EA apparently). Just hope it gets resolved quickly

 

Alec

[AlexB]

Trees do not prevent flooding. The can however increase the threat of flash flooding. They cause a dam which can break releasing large volumes of water. They also cause damage to in river structures such as bridges and weirs. Such as bending a gate on Hurley weir on the Thames and causing the majority of bridge failures in Cumbria nov 09...... They also considerably reduce the chance of survival if a person falls into a river in spate. They do however assist with providing shelter for fish.

[Matthew Storrs]

Trees in rivers are seen as an important asset for biodiversity and flood reduction.

 

Many are now left in as large woody debris (LWD). LWD creates shelter for fish, invertabrates and creates areas of differing depth due to scouring of the river bed. The increased flow around them also cleans gravels providing spawning sites for fish and suitable areas for certain nymphs to live.

 

They reduce flooding by reducing the effects of canalisation and dredging. Dredging gives only a short term effect against flooding as all that water rushing down has to back up somewhere and drop its load of suspended silt from washed off farmland so dredging becomes a vicious circle.

 

LWD stabilises the flow, creates pockets where silt can settle naturally and reduces the wash off from farmland.

 

Hopefully gone are the days, which hark back to the 60s, of creating sterile and prone to flooding waterways. Those land drainage engineers have a lot to answer for!

 

The Wild Trout Trust produced a video showing the effects of the above which demonstrates beautifully the disastrous effects of dredging. I shall try and find a link to it.

 

 

Spot on- doing a lot of river improvement works for the rivers trust and part of the project is to leave the large fallen beeches right accross the river for the habitat/shelter they provide, also they create pooling in what is other wise a shallow stretch of river.

[scraggs]

Which bit? We are the riparian owners of a short stretch of the Stour, where it forms the Suffolk/Essex border and have been having a few informative discussions with the EA.

 

Alec

 

That one is stratford side just before the flumes, there are several down on that side between there and stratford but that is the only one right across, then the other side of the flumes heading to boxted we came across another small one right across and decided to turn around and head up to dedham, but some friends we met coming down said there were a few that side aswell.

 

Lovely river for a paddle, we have just been doing a small stretch for a few hours each time and slowly making our way up.

[woody paul]

Dedham is down river from Boxted.

[agg221]

That one is stratford side just before the flumes.

Lovely river for a paddle, we have just been doing a small stretch for a few hours each time and slowly making our way up.

 

You're currently at the other end from us then, but if you keep on going then give me a shout when you get near Wixoe.

 

Alec

[peatff]

Years ago some friends I worked with found a friendly landlord with a pub that backed onto the Derwent. They asked him if they could clear some of the bank and use it for fishing and he said knock yourselves out lads. They were in like Flynn with saws and strimmers but one of the smallish Alders they wee cutting fell in and they just thought sod it and let it go. Within an hour they had someone from the Water Authority there checking on what they were doing and although they were allowed to carry on they received a stiff telling off for the stray debris.