COED CYMRU Bringing Welsh Woodlands into Sustainable Management Bringing Welsh Woodlands into Sustainable Management
Bringing Welsh Woodlands into Sustainable Management
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SOILS AND WATER

CYMRAEG

SOILS AND WATER RESEARCH AT PONTBREN

Last year we reported the remarkable results of the exploratory trials commissioned by CCW and NAW. These showed a sixty fold increase in porosity in grassland soils after conversion to farm woodland. From this work has come a comprehensive study over four years to establish what happens to rainwater as it passes through the soil and how this affects stream flows in the Pontbren catchment and downstream. The work is co-ordinated by the Flood Risk Management Research Consortium who have apportioned elements of the work at Pontbren to the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology , UW Bangor, Imperial College and Nottingham University. Other partners will incorporate the results of this field work into computer models of flows in the River Severn.

Sponsors of FRMRC include the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, Natural Environment Research Council, DEFRA, Environment Agency, Scottish Executive, Northern Ireland Rivers Authority and UKWIR. Tree planting, hedgerow and wetland restoration is funded by Forestry Commission, NAW and through the Enfys Programme administered by the Wales Council for Voluntary Action.


Coed Cymru, The Old Sawmill,
Tregynon, Newtown,
Powys SY16 3PL
Tel 01686 650 777