Second life for Storm Arwen trees in Wooler river restoration project

Felled by Storm Arwen in 2021, they are being used by Northumbrian Water and environmental charity Tweed Forum in a green engineering root wad system that will help stabilise a river bank on the Wooler Water – protecting critical infrastructure and providing new habitat for invertebrates and the juvenile fish who feed on them.

The Lower Wooler Water is part of the River Till catchment and is a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest and Special Area of Conservation.

The locally-sourced trees will replace an artificial, hard-engineered system of boulders that had been in place on 125m of the river as an emergency measure to protect essential water mains and a nearby footpath following flooding in 2012.

While effective in the short term, this temporary solution had been failing in recent years.

The more ecologically-friendly replacement is using windblown trees with the root-ball still intact and installing them into the riverbank with the root-ball protruding into the river.

This protects the bank from erosion, slows the flow of water downstream by absorbing the energy of the river, provides habitat for invertebrates and spawning fish and is more sensitive to the features of the river, which has designated status.

Tweed Forum project officer Craig Marshall said: “Storm Arwen brought down millions of trees across the country, but we’re pleased that we’ve been able to give dozens of them a second life as part of this important riverbank restoration scheme.

“We’d like to thank all of the landowners involved in this important project for their help.”

Most of the trees used were sourced from within a five-mile radius of the site. Additional work on-site also aims to ease pressure on the riverbank during flood events.

Northumbrian Water project manager Neil Yates said: “The project incorporates the installation of root-wads into the river bed that can then function as a living revetment, which provides immediate stabilisation. A live willow brush mattress is then used to support bank revegetation and strengthening the riverbank over time.

“Tweed Forum’s expertise and local knowledge has been key to delivering a solution that is both cost-efficient for our customers and beneficial for the environment.”