Use of Vegetation and Natural Materials
Narborough
Narborough Bog, England, United Kingdom Creating a living laboratory for nature-based flood protection. Lying within the floodplain of the River Soar and just upstream of the city of Leicester, the Narborough Bog nature reserve contains the only substantial deposit of peat in Leicestershire. However, the changing hydrology in the area was drying out the peat; and the River Soar, disconnected from its floodplain, contributed to increased flooding in the area. To combat these problems, the Environment Agency, working with the Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust, the global engineering firm Atkins, and members of the Soar Catchment Partnership, designed and implemented natural flood management techniques to slow and store water within the nature reserve. In keeping with the regular woodland management at the site, in 2019, the project team felled trees to create openings in the woodland canopy and to yield material for the construction of the natural features. They used the wood to block the flow route of floodwaters from the River Soar, holding it in the wet woodland area for longer, and created a wooden bund at the end of an old oxbow lake. The team designed all features to have the maximum ecological benefit and complement and blend into the nature reserve setting.
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