In the past century or so, many of our rivers, the Yare included, were canalised and disconnected from their flood plains. Attempts are now being made in a number of places to restore rivers closer to their former character. This is seen as having a number of advantages. Letting a river return closer to its natural state can create valuable wetlands, give time for sediment to settle, and reduce flooding downstream.
If you have been walking on Marston Marsh recently you will have seen and heard the activity on the other side of the river. Here work is being done on behalf of the Environmental Agency (EA) to improve wetland habitat on the floodplain. It includes reconnecting the floodplain to the river, improving the wet ditches, and creating wetland scrapes.
The large equipment being used is rather alarming, but the EA say they will “mitigate” any damage done in the course of the work. The end result can have a number of positives, such as:
- reducing the risk of flooding downstream. The flood plain will be more effective in storing floodwater and releasing it slowly. This should reduce the height of flood peaks downstream;
- providing a greater range of habitat. This should increase biodiversity, increase resilience to climate change and better support natural ecological processes in the water network;
- increasing the floodplain’s ability to store carbon and so reduce greenhouse carbon emissions.
It is encouraging to see the effort being made to promote nature in the river valley.