Ancient wood no longer feeling drained
An ancient North Yorkshire landscape is going back to its watery roots in a bid to explore more eco-friendly ways of alleviating severe flooding.
A groundbreaking project by the Forestry Commission and the Environment Agency is underway at 340 hectare 850 acre Bishop Wood, near Cawood, to dam drainage ditches, allowing rain water to be retained for longer in the wood rather than quickly flowing downstream into the Selby Dam, a tributary of the River Ouse.
The initiative is being backed by £25,000 from the National Grid.Bishop Wood is the largest wooded area in the Humberhead Levels, just a few metres above sea level, and is also an ancient woodland site, meaning that it dates back at least to the 1600s when the first reliable maps were produced.
Once part of a huge hunting estate owned by the Archbishop of York, it is now managed by the Forestry Commission on a lease from the Church Commissioners.
Historically, Bishop Wood would have been much wetter than it is today. But in the 20th century large areas were planted with pines as part of a national push to shore up the nation’s depleted timber reserves. That meant that more drainage ditches were cut to drain the land.Now experts are taking a leaf out of the history books to turn back the clock.
Around two miles of dykes are being excavated to increase their storage capacity and then dammed. During heavy downpours these channels will fill with water, eventually overspilling into selected areas, covering up to 30 acres of the wood.
Read more via Forestry Commission – News – ancient wood no longer feeling drained.
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