Facebook drivel about Oak trees and flooding

[wills-mill]

Sooooo, it's December. There are floods and the mighty Oak is asleep and has no leaves. How does this have any logical leg to stand on?

 

If someone had covered every scrap of Dales, Fells and general Pennine moorland in blanket tree planting in the last year, there would be such a political kerfuffle about the Brontes, Wainwright, 'desecration of magnificent unspoiled mountains' and the loss of habitat for the ring tailed ouslelizard.....

 

If people want to make a decent ecological point that's great, but that meme is no more than cheap political points scoring. If the current flooding had happened in the tropics when some cheeky chaps had clear felled 25,000 hectares of virgin rainforest to plant palm oil, soya (or goji berries for the health food shop) then I'm with them. Otherwise they're just spreading a completely false point.

[Stubby]

Perhaps you could point out to the knee jerk knob jockey what a **** he is being by posting this .....or just ignore it ...?

[Mick Dempsey]

Don't get me started on FB nonsense, the amount of posts I've written and then erased realizing I don't want to get into it with someone.

I just hide them, saves bother.

[twistedhicap]

The tree equipment group on there is definitely interesting some days !

[Maxnaggle]

Just a thought, though I can't see it having an impact with the current level of flooding, but would having green areas planted up keep the moisture content down in the soil, so that when it is wetter the soil can hold more?

[wills-mill]

Just a thought, though I can't see it having an impact with the current level of flooding, but would having green areas planted up keep the moisture content down in the soil, so that when it is wetter the soil can hold more?

 

If anyone can keep the moisture content of Saddleworth Moor down, then they are welcome to it

 

I don't know how it stacks up, does it make any difference to transpiration and fluid movement if you change from grassland to a broadleaf canopy? I'm sure that grass on an equivalent area to a mature Oak's drip line must throw out a massive amount of moisture. Quite interested if anyone knows.

 

Do we want more transpiration? Are we better off with a madcap scheme to shrinkwrap the Atlantic and keep the rainfall down?

[SteveA]

If our boggy farm is anything to go by (half woodland/ half meadow) then yes the woods are drier (or should I say less wet) than the meadows.

 

On that basis, yes I believe trees do make a difference.... but can it make the difference to stop all the flooding?... considering the amount of rain we've had, I very much doubt it. But maybe LESS people would be flooded?

 

cheers, steve

[stihlmadasever]

I agree with mick....facebook is bollocks

[10 Bears]

I can't find the paper I have read on this subject, but here is a pretty neat summary of the same research by Forest Research: Environmental benefits of greenspace - Flood risk alleviation (Forest Research)

 

A lot of info - but puts a good evidence based view forward.

 

So, the FB chap's view is not entirely without merit, just a little out of context...

[sherco]

I was reading somewhere on face book they are blaming hill farmers for letting their sheep graze the grass to tight so the water runs off the hills to quickly....