đź“Ť Kirkby Malham Parish Hall, Skipton BD23 4BT
đź“… Friday 11th April 2025
The Natural Flood Management (NFM) Community of Practice (CoP) gathered for a vibrant and collaborative event hosted by Ousewem. With over 40 attendees spanning practitioners, academics, regulators, consultants, and landowners, this event was designed to share insights, address common monitoring challenges and provide hands-on experience with field tools and techniques.
🔍 What We Covered
Morning Sessions:
A series of insightful presentations and discussions explored:
- EA’s baseline monitoring programme
- Ousewem’s approach to monitoring and modelling
- Skell Valley’s integrated strategies
- The Otterburn Catchment study
Afternoon Field Visit:
Attendees visited real-world NFM sites at Bell Busk, The Common and Otterburn. Live demos showcased equipment such as soil moisture sensors, turbidity instruments and flow meters — all with an emphasis on how data feeds into decision-making and modelling.
đź“ť Key Learnings
- Start with the right questions, not the tech
- Build resilient systems suitable for local conditions
- Engage monitoring experts early
- Monitoring is most effective when it’s purposeful and analysis is rigorous
- Ongoing data collection, even during funding gaps, is crucial
đź“„ Download Event Summary PDF
đź”— Read the full Ousewem blog
💬 If you’re interested in sponsoring or participating in future NFM CoP events, email us at: [email protected]