|
Josh Robins, RRC |
||
|
Last week I went to Wales with some of our members to see the Afon Merin project, a 2020 UK River Prize Finalist and a case study in the recently released Ciria NFM Manual. Nick Young from Natural Resources Wales (NRW) was our guide for the visit. |
||
|
|
||
|
The site is located along a 3km section of Welsh Government Woodland Estate, where the over-deep channel has been re-connected to palaeo-channels and its floodplain using large wood dams. The results are impressive with multiple channels connected to the floodplain in a dynamic and constantly evolving system. The site has been transformed from a transport dominated reach to one with diverse erosional and depositional features. It will be fascinating to see how the site develops in the coming years. On site we discussed the lessons learned by NRW during project delivery, as well as the expectations for the future development of the site. NRW intend to let the site evolve on its own with the expectation that natural processes will continue to restore channel and floodplain forms, and that wood will be replenished naturally. Nick also showed us how they identified low lying areas and considered flow pathways that could impact dam performance when selecting sites. It was a great day in the field and a site that will be a ‘must re-visit’ for me in the future. Many thanks to Nick Young from NRW for this visit. If you want to find out more about the Afon Merin, you can see the UK River Prize entry here. |
||
|
|
|
|
Add new comment