Benefits of Working with Landowners within Catchment Setting

On the Allan Water catchment we at Forth Rivers Trust have been working with landowners and tenants to undertake activities to reduce flooding.  We focus on building good relationships between ourselves at Forth Rivers Trust and the farming (and local) communities providing advice and support on Natural Flood Management (NFM) options.  This requires the commitment of all parties involved.  To undertake any positive conservation work on the ground we need the interest, effort and consent of the owners and tenant farmers and the goodwill of the local community. 

Much of the work is in the upper reaches of the catchment undertaking NFM activities such as restoration of peatlands.  On non-peat soils other options include planting native trees and shrubs along the margins and glen sides of the tributary burns.  Slowing the flow on the uplands in times of high rainfall results in holding back water so it takes longer to reach the lower catchment, lessening the risk of flooding downstream. 

The NFM options are costly: in terms of capital to install peat dams or plant the right tree in the right place and for ongoing management.  Although funding is limited Forth Rivers Trust has been successful in supporting the farming community to access these funds. 

We have worked with farmers on the Knaik catchment to source funding to help them install over 100 peat dams on two 50 ha bog sites.  Peat dams raise the water table, rewetting the peat, allowing the sphagnum mosses to begin recolonising and starting the process of building peat to hold in carbon.  More recently we have supported a landowner on the Allan Water with their agri-environment scheme that includes peatland restoration and the grazing management of designated sites of international importance. 

We continue to work across the whole catchment liaising with landowners, tenant farmers, local community groups, Nature Scot (formerly SNH), RSPB, Local Councils, Scottish Water, Scottish Forestry, SEPA and individuals within the community with the aim to get natural flood management work done on the ground. 

Sandra Stewart, Land Management Officer, Forth Rivers Trust.

Peatland Management – in discussion, Sandra Stewart FRT