Modelling to reduce flood risk in the Upper Rother 

iCASP has been working with the Don Catchment Rivers Trust (DCRT) for the past two years to better understand which factors influence flooding in the Upper Rother. As our Upper Rother catchment project draws to a close, a series of technical and non technical reports have been produced for landowners and community groups available on … Read more

April 2022 – Site Visit Brownlee Centre, reconnecting event at Weetwood Hall

After two years of meeting online, this event provided members with an opportunity to come together to reconnect and network on NFM activities after the pandemic, and to look forward and shape future activities of the group. It was split into two sessions Session 1 – Site visit to see NFM installations at the Brownlee … Read more

Assessing options for Natural flood Management in the Moss Brook catchment 

  A successful workshop exploring opportunities for natural flood management (NFM) in the Moss Brook catchment was held in Eckington, southeast of Sheffield, as a joint venture between iCASP and the Don Catchment Rivers Trust (DCRT)   This was the first workshop, organised in late October, as part of our Upper Rother Project, which focuses on three sub-catchments in the Upper Rother Catchment. The project aims to create a directory of NFM evidence which will help the DCRT to target areas that … Read more

Natural flood management measures in the landscape: a blend of research expertise and volunteering

As well as the various natural flood management (NFM) projects we have running within the iCASP programme at the moment, we also provide information and guidance to other organisations with their NFM projects. A key aspect of this is providing advice about initial and ongoing monitoring of NFM measures. This means it’s possible to understand … Read more

Calderdale catchment modelling workshop

As part of the Natural Flood Management (NFM) work being undertaken on the Calderdale Flood Action Plan, which iCASP’s Calderdale NFM project is contributing to, three sub-catchments in Calderdale are being modelled to improve understanding of how the current land management impacts upon flooding. On 14 November, Tom Willis held a workshop to explore the … Read more

Sphagnum is a key ingredient of natural flood management

In 2008 Joe Holden and colleagues published research that showed how water running over Sphagnum on blanket peatlands moved much more slowly (often ten times slower) than water running through sedges or bare peat. This spawned a new body of research which has shown how revegetation of peat, particularly if it is possible to get … Read more

Payment for Outcomes: visiting farms to determine possible sites for Natural Flood Management

iCASP is working on a project to integrate Natural Flood Management (NFM) into the National Trust’s ‘Payment for Outcomes’ trial. The Trust are undertaking the trial on some of their tenanted farms working with the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority and Yorkshire Dales Rivers Trust. Their work will help to inform Defra’s new Environmental Land … Read more

Modelling to support optimal location of flood measures

This October is the 3rd anniversary of the Calderdale Flood Action Plan (FAP) . You can find out more about who is involved with delivering the plan, the various pieces of work being undertaken and get an idea of the costs and the benefits of work already carried out through infographics produced to highlight key … Read more

Working with large land owners

Last week iCASP facilitated a meeting with the National Trust and Water@Leeds to identify future opportunities for collaborative working. The National Trust (NT) are one of the largest land owners in the UK, and around 40% of land in the UK drains into a watercourse which runs through a NT property. The Trust recognises it … Read more

Getting research in to Parliament

On the iCASP office wall, amongst lists of current and developing projects, year planners and maps there is a brightly coloured poster about getting research in to parliament.  As iCASP is all about achieving impact from existing environmental science we do a range of activities to ensure iCASP’s work gets into parliament. Below is a … Read more